


Stark

by donutkirby



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Gen, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2020-05-20 04:23:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19369678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutkirby/pseuds/donutkirby
Summary: Before Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang began their journey as Huntresses, there was Team STRQ, the shining hope of Beacon Academy. With the world under siege by creatures of darkness and sinister organizations, they'll have to push themselves to their limits in order to maintain peace. This is the story of four brave youths who fought for what they believed in...and paid the price.





	1. V1 Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> This is my first post on AO3. It's a prequel fic to the RWBY series, one of my favourite shows of all time, that focuses on the life and adventures of the titular team's predecessors, Team STRQ. I originally started this fic on FF.net in 2016, and it's still ongoing. I figured it was time to stop limiting myself to one website and start posting my works elsewhere, so I've decided to add this - as well as my other fics, maybe - to AO3.
> 
> Of course, since I started this fic over 3 years ago, and that was one of my first real writing endeavors at the time, the early chapters are pretty rough (in my opinion). Still, I choose to see them as an indicator of how far I've come, and how far I can still go. I'll only change a few things here and there as I post (I'm thinking 2 chapters a week). 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy! I know that I've enjoyed writing it all this time.
> 
> -donutkirby

* * *

 

** Prologue **

The ancient gears stirred, grinding against each other in a slow, methodical rhythm that had persisted for countless years. In the office of Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, it was business as usual. Specifically, it was the time of year when all the aspiring young men and women of Remnant placed their hopes and ambitions on his school. With all the training they’d done under their belt, they’d applied to the Huntsman Academy of their choice, and if they were accepted, they would be faced with the opportunity to grow into the strong, righteous protectors of humanity they were meant to be.

It was Ozpin’s favourite time of the year. It was always good to see fresh, enthusiastic new faces in his Academy, training to become the very best of the best. Now, of all times, they were needed. In recent years, the Grimm had gradually but indisputably grown in population. The amount of Grimm-related civilian casualties was growing out of acceptable boundaries.

 Indeed, dark times were coming. But for now, it was still an era of peace for the men and women of Remnant. And the Huntsmen who graduated from this Academy-and those from the others across the continent-would do all that was in their power to preserve that peace.

“Hmm…I’m not sure about her…her background…in Mistral? It seems…humph. I suppose I’ll have to check that out…” In the corner of the room, a young bespectacled blonde woman glanced at transcripts on a Scroll.

Ozpin smiled at her. Glynda Goodwitch, one of Beacon’s finest prodigies and of the most talented students that he’d had the pleasure of teaching. That was quite a statement, considering he’d been its headmaster for as long as most men could remember. Young Glynda had always scored top marks, worked hard, and, underneath her gruff exterior, had a kind heart. Though she had graduated only two years ago, she had already risen through the ranks of the Academy and become Ozpin’s secretary. She was one of the few people Oz trusted completely, and he appreciated her more than he could ever say.

Sipping his coffee, the headmaster scrolled through the news, taking it all in slowly. James Ironwood was quickly making momentum in his new military campaign. The Schnee Dust Company was growing more profitable by the day. The crime rates against Faunus were increasing.

“Tch!” Glynda said suddenly, disrupting him. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“No, nothing sir. Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” She assured him. “It’s just another one of those students who think they can get into Beacon with, well…less than stellar records.”

“I see.” She was right, it was not his concern. However, he did find his interest ever-so-slightly piqued. He gestured for her to hand him the Scroll, and she obeyed.

“Hmmm…” Ozpin glanced at the transcript. Glynda was right. This young woman from Vale was certainly not fit to study at Beacon. Her only training records were at a low-reputation combat school in the countryside, and her grades hadn’t been particularly impressive. He sighed. It was always a shame to have to turn down such aspiring youths. He glanced at the girl’s picture.

“I think it’s time we made the registration process a bit stricter,” Glynda noted, mostly to herself. “Honestly, the way it is now, it’s a bit too loose for my taste. It wouldn’t do to have some in-over-his-head punk cheat his way into our fine school, now would it?”

“…”

“Professor Ozpin?” she inquired. “Is everything all right?”

Ozpin did not answer. He had not even heard her. His mind was elsewhere, in times long gone, so long ago even the eldest man in Remnant had forgotten. The girl…this talentless girl with ambition far beyond her capabilities…with her short, dark hair and red streaks, with her shy, frightened smile that suggested she was afraid the camera itself would attack her…her eyes were the colour of a brilliant, silver steel.

“Professor Ozpin!” Glynda repeated loudly.

“Ah.” Ozpin was taken back to reality. “My apologies, Glynda. If it is not too much of a trouble, may I request something?”

“Anything at all, sir.”

“Good. Then I would like you to approve this girl’s transcript.”

Glynda’s eyes widened. “But sir…she is not suited for Beacon! Surely you know that as well as I! Her records are abysmal-“

“I would not call them “abysmal,” yet you are correct, they are not up to our Academy’s standards.”

“But then…why?”

Ozpin smiled wearily. “Why, indeed? I suppose you could call it…an _intuition_ of mine.”

“...Intuition? I don’t quite follow…” Glynda’s gaze turned serious. “…Sir. If I may ask, is this about-“

“Please, Glynda, just do as I have said. Answers will come, in time. They always do.”

She hesitated for a moment, then sighed. “…All right, sir. I’ll prepare the acceptance documents.”

“Thank you, Glynda.”

She left the room, and Ozpin was thus left alone to his thoughts.

“That girl…” he murmured. “Could it be?”

* * *

  _All was darkness. Every fabric of reality in one’s sight, every last sensation in one’s body…nothing but despair and rage existed in this world. Amongst the desolate landscape, the sky crimson like blood…were a mere mortal unfortunate to survive his first second within this nightmare, he would have no doubt that he had been condemned to the bowels of Hell itself._

_Creatures of fear and disgust prowled the land, each growling for a craving that would never be fulfilled, and insatiable bloodlust that would withstand eternity. The Grimm. Large and small, young and old, from the common wolves to the abominations even the most fearless of Huntsmen had never even conceived in the darkest pits of their nightmares…all of them made their home here. And in the centre of it all…_ it _rose._

_“The time is approaching,” the thing spoke. “Spoke” was not quite right. It was less of a voice and more of a projection that came from nowhere, yet everywhere. “Soon, our chance will come.”_

_The thing was smiling to itself. Its enemy would make their move very soon. It had no intention of stopping them. In fact, it was quite the opposite._

_Let them plan their schemes._

_Let them dream._

_Let them hope._

_And then…we will crush it all._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote this, it was shortly after the V3 finale, and all we really knew about Salem was her design and that she had some vendetta against Ozpin. Since I was determined to keep things consistent with canon - for some reason - I just decided to make her description as vague as possible, focusing on the "oooh creepy" aspect of her, which to be fair, she has in spades.
> 
>   


	2. A New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer Rose arrives at Beacon Academy, ready to begin her new life as a Huntress. Though she hopes to avoid contact with other people as much as possible, fate has other plans in mind for her.

** Volume 1 **

**Chapter 1: A New Beginning**

The peace of the bright, sunny afternoon was shattered by the thunderous roar of the ship’s engines as it reached its destination. In front of the grand vessel was the shining light of the kingdom of Vale: Beacon Academy. Within the ship, hundreds of seventeen-year old boys and girls gazed in wonder at what was going to be their home for the next four years.

 It was like a beautiful dream that had finally come true. All their lives, they’d studied, trained, worked hard to fulfill their hopes, and now it had all culminated in this moment. They couldn’t wait to slay some Grimm, to rescue the innocent from danger, to form bonds with their fellow students. This was a new beginning for all of them.

From now on, they were genuine Huntsmen-in-training.

The moment the ship’s doors opened, everyone grabbed their weapons, their Scrolls, their equipment, and ran out towards the Academy as fast as their legs could take them. Towards their bright, unknown future.

One student, however, lagged behind the rest. A short, slender girl wearing a white cloak that covered her whole body. No one had really paid attention to her on the ride; she had mostly stood in the corner, away from all the other students. She hadn’t spoken a single word since they’d boarded. As she stepped out the door, the bright sunlight nearly blinded her, even underneath the safety of her cloak. Timidly, Summer Rose raised her head and took in the full grandeur of her new school. It was much bigger than she’d anticipated.

“So this is it, then.” She murmured to herself, so quietly even she could barely hear it.

She hadn’t really expected that she’d actually be accepted into Beacon Academy. Her grades must have barely scraped the line of acceptance for them to approve her entry. She smiled fearfully. _Well, whatever the case, I guess they’ll be expecting a lot of me, huh?_

It wasn’t something she was used to. No one had ever expected much of young Summer. A sickly child born to a poor country family was never held to high expectations. In her early years, she was used to relying on others’ kindness; she simply had no strength of her own. And while her parents loved her very much and did all they could for her, they were simply unable to support her with what little they had. So, when she was barely old enough to remember their faces, they’d shipped Summer off to a boarding school, where she’d first learned how to fight.

Predictably, she hadn’t been any good at it. She was at the bottom of virtually every class, and it soon became clear she couldn’t wield a sword to save her life. She hadn’t had any real companions, either. The other boys and girls had all made fun of her, of her horrible swordsmanship, of her lack of stamina, of the unusual colour of her eyes. It had been a miserable existence, and Summer had been ready to just give up.

Then, one day, a spark of hope had entered her life. An aspiring Huntress from Beacon Academy had come to her school to give a brief presentation. From her words, Summer had learned of the value of fighting to protect others, and the valor in combating the evils that plagued the world-Grimm, criminals, and more.

It wasn’t a particularly unique speech, yet it had changed the young girl’s life forever. This woman was only 18, yet she’d shone with more grace and power than any adult Summer had ever known. It was at that moment that she’d decided. One day, she too would study at Beacon.

From then on, she’d started to train harder than ever before. No matter how many times her classmates belittled her lack of skill, she kept working. Though she’d never truly be extraordinary, her grades slowly improved. And while her swordsmanship was still rather poor, she’d soon found a worthy substitute.

Standing there in the courtyard, Summer smiled as she took out her bow and arrow and caressed it gently. She remembered the first time she’d taken an archery class, and how natural the bow had felt in her hands. It was an entirely different feeling from holding a blade. From that day, she’d never wanted to use any other weapon.

With her newfound confidence and some hard work, she’d risen from the worst student in the school to one of the best by her graduation. The very day she received her diploma, she’d written up her transcript and submitted it to Beacon Academy. Though she knew that the odds were slim, that even with her improvement she was still leagues below the average Beacon hopeful, she’d held on to hope, praying with all her heart that she’d be accepted.

And those prayers had been answered. She was here. Summer took a deep breath and took her first step forward into her new life…

…and promptly tripped over her own cloak.

_Thud._ Her head slammed into the pavement ungracefully. Some of the students ahead looked behind and saw her, chuckled at her clumsiness, and simply continued walking.

“Ow, ow, ow…” she muttered. The pain in her head was already fading, but her face was flushed red with embarrassment. She hoped this wasn’t setting the tone for her entire life at the school. _Way to make a first impression, Summer._ Awkwardly, she got up and dusted herself off.

“You all right?” A voice came out from in front of her.

“Huh?” she looked up. A young man was standing right before her, holding out his hand. He must’ve seen her trip. Filled with apprehension at this rather unflattering social interaction, Summer ducked down again and attempted to move past him.

“What, you’re not gonna say anything?” The boy, rather rudely, grabbed her by the shoulder. “C’mon, you gotta talk to some people while you’re here!” He turned her around and pulled down her hood, bringing her face uncomfortably close to his. “Hey, I got an idea! Why don’t you be my friend?”

“E-Eh? Y-your friend?” she stared at him nervously. The boy wore a pleasant-looking brown vest over a beige shirt. His muscular, tattooed arms were left exposed. He had sky-blue eyes and short blonde hair that was as bright as the sun. _He’s actually pretty cute,_ Summer thought to herself grudgingly. Still, she wasn’t quite ready to be all intimate with him just yet.

“Don’t you have any sense of personal space?” She muttered with as much sass as she could muster. That was how she got through most conversations.

“Ahaha, sorry. It’s kind of a problem for me.” The boy laughed, scratching his head awkwardly. “I’m still working on it.” His eyes widened. “That’s right, I haven’t told you my name.” He held out his hand once more. “The name’s Tai. Nice to meet you.”

“…I’m Summer.” Reluctantly, she accepted his handshake. Tai seemed rather friendly. A bit too insensitive for her taste, but she could tell that he was a pretty nice guy. As far as first friends went, she supposed she could’ve done a lot worse.

“Well, Summer, now that we’re best friends, why don’t we head inside? You wouldn’t want to miss the opening ceremony, eh?”

“Ah, right.” She’d completely forgotten about that. “Yeah, let’s go.”

The two of them walked, side by side, towards the school building. Summer realized she hadn’t walked so closely to someone else her age for a very long time, let alone a boy. It actually felt kind of nice.

“So, what’s your story, Summer?” Tai asked.

“Hmm?”

“I mean, why did you want to study at Beacon? Where did you go to school? What’s your weapon? Your Semblance? Your-“

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too many questions?” She wasn’t trying to be rude. She just didn’t feel comfortable answering some of those questions just yet.

“Huh? Man, you really don’t like talking, eh?” Tai paused, then sighed. “Ok, I guess you have a point. Ok, then let’s just start with the first one. Why Beacon?”

Summer thought for a few seconds, then replied: “I wanted to be a Huntress.”

“Uh, ok, well _duh._ That’s why we’re all here. I mean, do you have any specific reason?” Tai inquired.

“…Well…” _Think, Summer, think._ “Um…I guess if you really want a reason…I wanted to get stronger. I was always a weak child. But I thought that if I became a Huntress, I wouldn’t have to rely on everyone else my whole life. I’d finally be able to stand up for myself.”

She looked up, hoping Tai was satisfied. She was surprised to see that his face had become unusually serious. She felt the nervousness rise up inside her. Had he not liked her response?

“Not having to relying on everyone else…” he muttered to himself. “I see. That’s a pretty good reason.”

“Tai?”

“Ah, don’t worry.” He switched back to his sunny smile. “Just…thinking about stuff.”

“…Ok then.” Seeing his strange expression had aroused her curiosity. She wondered what Tai’s reason for attending Beacon was. Perhaps he’d once been in the same situation as her, a poor child struggling to fend for themselves. His clothes looked rather shabby and worn-down, after all.

However, she didn’t have the chance. They’d arrived at the auditorium.

The room was gigantic. Even with all the students gathered there, it was only half-full. It was covered in ancient, intricate-carved architecture. In the back of the room as a large stage. On it was a sole microphone stand and a red curtain leading backstage.

Summer felt a wave of nausea rise up inside her, being surrounded by so many people. She forced it down with all her might. If she wanted to survive her new life at Beacon, she’d have to learn to interact with others for a change. Besides, it was the first day and she’d already made a new friend. She could do this.

Nervously, she looked around at the students, taking note of the more eye-catching subjects. A tall purple-haired girl with spectacles wearing an expensive-looking dress. A bulky young man wielding a large switch-axe with ease. A boy and a girl wearing matching black-and-red outfits; probably twins. All of them already looked like skilled, experienced Huntsmen. Could she possibly hope to compare to them?

Suddenly, a young woman walked onto the stage. “Attention, students.” She spoke into the microphone. “Headmaster Ozpin will now make his welcoming speech. Please be silent.” She stood to the side as the stage curtains opened, and a tall, white-haired man with small reading glasses walked out. All was quiet.

“Greetings, students.” He smiled at all the young men and women gathered in front of him. “Welcome to Beacon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really any changes here, plus it's a really short chapter. Only thing I can think of is I changed the formatting of the title to be more consistent with how it's done in the later chapters. 
> 
> For some reason, I've always imagined Summer as using a bow and arrow, but I know not everyone feels the same way. What weapon would you like to see Summer use when we get a flashback of her?


	3. The Twins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the opening ceremony, Summer and Tai make a few friends, as well as a few enemies.

**Chapter 2: The Twins**

“Today, all of you have gathered here with a single purpose in mind.” Headmaster Ozpin began his speech. His voice resonated throughout the entire auditorium. “To train yourself to become the finest Huntsmen and Huntresses in all of Remnant, to be the guardians of the land who will vanquish the evil that torments it.”

Summer shifted uncomfortably where she stood. The headmaster spoke in a stern, yet kind voice that was impossible not to pay attention to. However, she had a strange feeling welling up inside her as Ozpin continued with his speech.

“However, each of you also carry your own, personal goal that you wish to come to fruition. You believe that our Academy will be the key to fulfilling that wish. It will be your duty, and yours alone, to ensure that those goals do not conflict with your duties as Huntsmen. And if you are here because you believe you can find your purpose in life through your training…then it is up to you to determine that purpose.”

_My own, personal goal…my purpose, huh?_ Summer couldn’t help but smile to herself. _I guess “I want to become stronger” isn’t really that impressive of a lifelong dream._

“Do not fear, I will not intrude on your precious time any longer. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. I trust you will all be ready.” With that, Ozpin smiled one more time at his audience and retreated behind the curtain once more. The young woman-Professor Goodwitch-took the microphone.

“Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, however I recommend that you head to the ballroom as soon as possible. That is where you will be sleeping tonight. You will all need a good night’s sleep for tomorrow’s initiation. Good luck to you all.” She turned and followed Ozpin off the stage.

It had been a nice speech. Surprisingly short, yet it got its message across well, which was something Summer could certainly appreciate. However, that uncomfortable sensation had plagued her throughout the entire thing, and she now realized what it was. She couldn’t help but feel that during his speech, the headmaster’s gaze had been fixated solely on her.

It was certainly an odd idea. What reason would the headmaster of Beacon have for showing any particular interest in an ordinary young woman?

“Well then!” Tai’s voice broke her out of her brown study. “With that out of the way, how about we get out there and make ourselves popular?”

“Huh?” Pulling herself back to reality, Summer noticed that the other students were indeed beginning to mingle with one another. The auditorium was bustling with conversation, each drowning out the others in a sea of words. She glanced skeptically at all of them. They all looked impressive, sure, but was there anyone in particular she’d really want to be friends with?

“I guess we could try,” she shrugged. “Though I’m not sure I’d be able to fit in with any of them. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit shy.”

“What kind of way of thinking is that?” Tai smiled at her. “You never know until you try, right? I mean, you already got me, right? I bet it’s that feminine charm of yours! You’ll probably have guys clamoring over you left and right soon!”

_Right now I kind of doubt it._ That wasn’t really something she particularly cared about right now. She was more concerned that if she tried to befriend any of these students, they’d try to compare her to themselves. That they’d deem her unfit to be their friend. It had happened all the time back at her old school, and was a large reason why she’d more or less given up on social interaction by the time she was thirteen. She tried to explain it the best she could. “I just…” she muttered. “…don’t think they’ll accept me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I think you’re pretty alright.” Tai patted her shoulder. “Well, if you really don’t want to, you can help me scout out some new buddies. And with their help, I’m gonna build an awesome team here at Beacon. The Tai Gang of Pure Awesome and Ass-Kicking!”

_The…what?_ Summer couldn’t help but giggle. That was the most ridiculous thing she’d heard all day. Somehow, it made her feel better. _That’s right, you just said to yourself that you could do this. Now prove it to yourself._

“What, you don’t like the name?” Tai’s face fell. “Aww, and I spent all night coming up with it, too.”

“No, I think it’s cute!” she said honestly with a smile. “Now, let’s go make some friends.”

* * *

 

“Hey there!” Tai grinned cheerfully at a mousy-haired girl wandering about the room aimlessly. “How are you?”

“Hmm? Umm, I’m fine, thank you.” The girl turned around quickly, but not quickly enough for Tai and Summer to miss the round, white tail protruding from her behind.

_A Faunus, huh?_ Summer thought. This girl was part of a species that was part human and part animal. Specifically, this girl was a rabbit-type Faunus. No one was really sure where they’d originated from. When she was little, Summer had been told how Faunus were savages who merely looked human, but were amoral killers. However, seeing some of them up close and personal, Summer thought they didn’t seem any different from regular humans.

“What’s your name?” She asked the girl.

“Harriet. Harriet Maroon.”

“Harriet Maroon?” Tai’s eyes lit up. “Hey, I know your name! You’re from Signal Academy, right?”

“E-eh? Oh yeah, right. Yeah, that’s where I went before Beacon. And you’re-“

“I’m Tai. I don’t think we ever talked back at Signal, but why don’t we change that now? You’ll want to remember my name for when I become the coolest guy in the whole school! And when I do, if you’re my friend, I’ll be sure to grant you some special…“he winked at her. “…privileges.”

Harriet Maroon gazed at him skeptically. Summer couldn’t blame her. She sighed, wondering if she should step in and try to make some conversation. But what was there to talk about? She wasn’t a very interesting person; more than likely Harriet would get bored of her soon.

“So…uh, well, if you’re done talking,” Harriet spoke up quietly, with a hint of annoyance. “I think I’ll be on my-“

“Not at all!” Tai grabbed her by the shoulder and stared into her eyes with a big, friendly smile. Watching, Summer had an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu. _I hope this isn’t how he greets every new person he meets._

“I can’t just leave you to wander around by yourself, you know! Here, meet my friend, Summer. She’s really nice! And she’s super shy, too, so I bet you’ll get along really well!”

_Was that meant as a compliment?_ Summer smiled awkwardly at her. ”Hey.”

“…Hey.” An uncomfortable silence followed. Summer could feel her newfound confidence fading back into anxiety. Desperate, she said the first thing she could think of.

“So, um, Harriet, why’d you come to Beacon?”

“What?!” Her widened in fear for a moment. “Well…I wanted to prove to people that I’m a strong person. That being a Faunus doesn’t automatically make me some-some evil monster or whatever.” _Fair enough,_ thought Summer. She was also here to prove her own strength as well.

Opening up seemed to have helped the girl’s talkativeness. She went on, reaching into her back and pulling out a pair of claw gauntlets. “This is my weapon. I made it myself with my father’s equipment.”

“Ooh, shiny! Let me see.” Tai leaned in for a closer look. “Hmm, the craft is pretty good…Mistral, if I had to guess.” His eyes widened. “Holy crap. Is that an Aura Capsule?”

_Aura?_ Summer’s interest was piqued.

Aura. A mysterious form of energy that existed within all living, breathing organisms. With enough training, a person could “awaken” their Aura and channel it as a protective shield in battle, or a form of attack. They could even channel their Aura to utilize powerful abilities called Semblances, which were unique to each user. But even then, only a select few were capable of materializing their Aura into a physical form-an Aura Capsule-and using it enhance their weaponry, generating power far beyond that of Dust.

She glanced at Harriet. This girl had mousy-brown hair tied up in a ponytail, a rather bland plaid dress, and her face was covered in freckles and acne. She didn’t look particularly impressive, but if she could pull off such a rare technique, she must actually be really talented.

_I guess looks really can be deceiving,_ Summer thought to herself.

“Yeah, I made them, too.” Harriet replied with a smile. “Took me a while to get the craft right, but it was worth it. They’re really useful and I’ve won many battles thanks to them.”

“And yet, you’re still nothing but a stupid little bunny.”

The three of them turned around abruptly, hearing the unfamiliar voice. A male student with jet-black hair, large bushy eyebrows, and a fancy yellow robe walked up to them with an unpleasant grin on his face.

“Well, well, what do we have here? A couple of idiots and a Faunus chatting it up. Isn’t that cute? It’s like you’re meant for each other!” He threw his head back with rather unnecessary flair and laughed.

The other students in the auditorium started to take notice of the boy’s mean-spirited behaviour. Several heads turned in their direction.

Summer felt chills running down her back. _They’re all staring at me. W-what should I do? This is bad…_

She shook her head. _No. I can’t panic. This jerk just walked up to you and called you an idiot. Stand up for yourself for once in your life!_

She mustered up her courage. “Excuse me, but who are you?”

“Huh?” The boy glanced at her, as if he hadn’t even noticed her presence. He sneered. “Why the hell should I have to introduce myself to a peasant like you, hmmm? Don’t you have any idea who I am?”

“I don’t think so, and all the better that she isn’t acquainted with some low-life like you.” Tai responded, his eyes flashing in anger.

“Quiet, you. You don’t even have the right to look at someone like me.” The boy said without even sparing him a glance. “As for you…” he walked up to Harriet, and, without warning, grabbed her by the neck.

“Hey!” yelled Tai, outraged. “The hell’s wrong with you?!”

The boy ignored him. “Look at you, little bunny.” He said with a smirk, holding the terrified girl as she struggled to break free of his grip. “Sooo proud of yourself for building your little toys, huh? Well, I can’t blame you. For a pathetic Faunus like you, something as trivial as this must seem pretty damn impressive, huh?”

_What’s with him? Does he have nothing better to do than to pick on random students?_

More and more students were noticing the commotion. They started to whisper to one another.

_Dammit. I have to do something about this._ Summer was practically shaking in fear, but she had to protect this girl who was being unfairly bullied. After all, protecting the helpless was a Huntress’ job.

Without thinking, she pulled out her bow and arrow and aimed it straight at the bully’s head.

“Leave her alone _. Now.”_

The entire auditorium-including the bully-immediately went silent and turned to her in shock.

_Wait. What did I just do?_

With a sinking feeling, she realized she’d just done something unbelievably stupid. And there was no way to take it back.

“Oh, you’re more interesting than you look.” The boy let go of Harriet, who collapsed to the ground, gasping. He smiled cruelly at her. “Your eyes just now…the way they shone like a warrior’s…I think you’ll be a worthy opponent to me after all!”

He drew his weapon-a royal-looking sceptre with gold engravings. “Alright lady, I accept your challenge to duel!”

The crowd burst into cheers.

_Huh? Oh. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no. Not this. Not like this. Why did I do that, why did I do that?_

All of Summer’s confidence had melted away like snow. Less than an hour in and she’d already screwed up in the most extreme way possible. And now this boy was challenging her to a duel? He was probably way stronger than she was. She’d be humiliated _and_ ostracized for starting a fight and no one would want to talk to her and she’d be all alone for the next four years and-

Too late, she’d realized that in her panic and self-criticism the boy had already started the fight.

“Ready or not…” He yelled, swinging his sceptre. “Here I c-“

“That’s quite enough.”

Out of nowhere, a student had walked up to the boy and grabbed his weapon out of his hands.

“Huh?” The boy glanced down stupidly, where his weapon had been a second ago.

Everyone’s gaze turned to the new arrival.

She was a tall, beautiful young woman, with dark hair flowing majestically down her back. She had crimson red eyes and was wearing a Gothic-style red and black dress. Though she was probably the same age as everyone else there, she radiated an aura of power and maturity that made her look much older and wiser. Summer recognized her as one of the students she’d taken notice of when she’d first entered the building.

“Hmm, crafted in Atlas.” The girl muttered, casually glancing over the weapon. “Powerful, but in rather poor shape. A hand-me-down if I were to wager. I’ll rate it a B minus.” The bully simply stood there, gazing at her in shock.

The girl looked up. “That’s quite enough.” She repeated, to everyone in the room this time. “I suggest you all make your way to the ballroom as soon as possible. Please, there is nothing more for you to see here.”

Almost unconsciously, the students all nodded and wordlessly headed towards the direction in which the girl pointed. The only ones who remained in the auditorium were Tai, Summer, Harriet, the bully, the mysterious girl, and the boy who’d worn a similar outfit to hers-most likely her brother. He walked up to the rest of them wordlessly.

The girl handed the bully his weapon. “Please, I’d advise you not to start trouble wherever you can; it’s quite irritating. And if I may add, don’t use your weapon to start fights with random children in your neighbourhood. It only wears down its quality.”

All of his bravado crushed, the boy took his sceptre and could only meekly growl, “I-I won’t forget this!” before running off at full speed.

“Ah, I don’t believe the ballroom is that way.” The girl said with a smile.

“@#$%@&*!” The boy yelled an unintelligible swear word over his shoulder.

“Well then. That’s taken care of.” The mystery girl turned around and smiled at the group. _She really is pretty,_ Summer thought to herself, blushing. “I’m sorry if that man caused you any annoyance. Though I might add,” she said, turning towards Harriet with a stern gaze. “It might not have escalated so far if you had simply spoken up for yourself, young lady.”

“U-uhh…” Harriet stammered.

“Hey, that’s kind of uncalled for, don’t you think?” Tai spoke up in her defence. “She was being bullied. It’s only natural to freeze up when someone’s bad-mouthing you like that!”

“A-and besides, it’s not like she couldn’t stand up for herself!” Summer added. “She had her weapon, she could’ve fought back if she wanted to!”

The mystery girl turned to them both. There was a moment’s silence, then she said to Summer:

“A bow and arrow. No particularly special attributes, but in top condition. Simple yet effective. I rate it a B plus. You’re Summer Rose, I presume?”

“Huh?” Summer’s eyes widened. “Yeah, that’s me, but…how do you know my name?”

“I have my ways.” She said coolly. “It’s important to know all that you can about the people you’ll be working with at such a vital point in your life. What you did just now was quite impressive. I think you’ve got a bright future ahead of you.” Without so much as a pause, she then turned to Tai. “No weapon. Attacks primarily with Dust-infused physical enhancements. You’re Taiyang Xiao Long, correct?”

_Is that his full name? Kind of a mouthful._

“That I am.” Tai grinned. “And what about you? I don’t believe I caught your name, gorgeous.”

Summer rolled her eyes. _He sure likes to lay it on thick._

The girl smiled again, apparently accepting the compliment. “Raven Branwen, hailing from the Kingdom of Atlas. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” She bowed gracefully. “And this is my twin brother, Qrow.” She gestured to her brother, who had been silent the whole time.

“Hey,” said Qrow gruffly. His voice was surprisingly deep considering his lean appearance.

Summer waved shyly at the two of them. These two siblings looked pretty strong. Qrow was quite handsome, though in a different way from Tai. Raven was admittedly rather scary, but in the way that made you glad to have her on your side. _More new friends, huh?_

“Well then, now that that’s done, we’ll be on our way.” Raven said. “See you in the ballroom, everyone. I’d prefer if you didn’t get involved in more incidents tonight.”

“If you do, my sister’s probably gonna do more than just snatch up some dumbass kid’s weapon.” Qrow said with a wry smile.

And with that, the two of them walked off.

“Well, they seem cool.” Tai noted.

“Yeah.” Summer nodded. She hoped she’d be able to talk to them more soon.

“U-umm,” Harriet spoke up. The two of them turned around to face her. “Thanks for, um, standing up for me back there. I really appreciate it!”

“No problem!” Tai responded with a smile. “Protecting people in danger is a Huntsman’s duty! Though, uh, I think Summer did most of the cool stuff.” He added sheepishly.

Summer smiled at Harriet, who smiled back. She was starting to feel a bit better. Rash as it was, what she’d done had been the right thing. She’d stood up to defend someone who needed help. That was all that mattered.

The three of them made their way to the ballroom together. Once there, Tai said a quick “See ya” to Summer before going off to the men’s side of the room. Harriet walked up to a group of Faunus girls who were all clustered together. Maybe amongst her own kind she could make some friends.

Summer, just now realizing how dead-tired she was, yawned and plopped down in a corner of the room. Without bothering to change into her pajamas, she crammed herself into one of the sleeping bags provided.

She looked at the people settling down around her. She recognized some of them from back in the auditorium. A few noticed her and whispered to one another-probably gossip about the crazy chick who had started a fight at the opening ceremony. They were quickly shut up by Raven, who was walking by. She waved at Summer before moving into her own sleeping bag.

It had been a rather messy first day at Beacon. Summer wouldn’t say it had been a total disaster, though. Sure, the incident with that black-haired boy had left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she’d also met Tai, and some other people who she was sure she’d become friends with soon.

And tomorrow was her initiation. Her chance to prove to herself, and the entire school, that she had what it took to be a Huntress.

She could hardly wait for dawn.                                                                                                 


	4. Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer prepares to go through Beacon's rigorous initation. But first, she finds herself in a heated confrontation with another student, who questions her motivations.

**Chapter 3: Initiation**

“Hmm…” Ozpin murmured as he looked through the video feed. Specifically, the clip of Summer Rose threatening a bully with her bow and arrow. “It seems my hunch was correct after all.”

“You think so, Headmaster? All I see is a rash girl who can’t seem to use her head.” Glynda said with a frown.

“Indeed, that is what you see, Glynda. But everything is a matter of perspective. Where you saw an action made in haste and foolishness, I saw an act of courage made without the slightest hesitation. The mark of a true warrior.”

“…If you say so.” The young professor still looked skeptical. “In the meantime, sir, a message has come from James Ironwood.”

“Ah. And what would the aspiring young colonel of the Atlesian military want with me?”

“He didn’t say, sir. Apparently he’d like to speak with you in person about it when you visit Atlas Academy for the Vytal Festival later this year.”

“I see. Very well, I will meet with him when that time comes.” The headmaster reflected on the time when he’d decided to make James Ironwood his confidant. It had been around the time Glynda had graduated from Beacon. Old Headmaster Onyx of Atlas had recommended him. Ozpin had been skeptical at first, but then he’d seen the young man’s determined spirit, and how he’d practically radiated strength and ambition. Just like Glynda, James was quite young, but Ozpin had chosen to put his faith in that spirit, and it hadn’t let him down…yet.

Ozpin could guess as to what James was so intent on speaking to him about. Robberies and homicides in Atlas had skyrocketed in the past few weeks. Many of them were discriminatory attacks against Faunus. What’s more, a single, currently nameless crime faction was claiming responsibility for _all_ of the incidents. Normally, it wouldn’t be enough of an issue for James to contact Ozpin, but the rise in crime rate had occurred immediately after-not before-an increase in Grimm population. It was more than a little suspicious. Perhaps it was a sign that someone-or something-was making their move.

Or perhaps James had simply been driven paranoid by all the secrets that Ozpin had confided in him and there was truly nothing to this whole situation.

Right now, it didn’t matter. Ozpin glanced at the feed once more. As Summer Rose had readied her bow, there had been a gleam in her eyes-a raging fire the likes of which he hadn’t seen in any Huntsman for eons. Despite her timid appearance, she was undoubtedly strong.

But would that fire be enough to carry her through the trials she would have to face? That was what Ozpin would see for himself today.

* * *

 

The locker room was dead silent. Summer was the only one there. The silence was rather calming after all the commotion yesterday. She walked over to her locker and extracted her bow, arrows, Scroll, and several other accessories.

Above all else, Summer Rose was a punctual girl. The moment she’d woken up, she’d jumped out of her sleeping bag and headed for her locker. _Who knows, maybe getting up early will give me a bonus on the test._

It was only after reaching her locker that she remembered she hadn’t had breakfast. After a moment’s thought, she took a small box of Pumpkin Pete’s cereal out of the locker and downed it. It was very sweet.

“I don’t think that cereal is very good for you.”

“Huh?’ Summer turned around. Turns out she wasn’t alone. A girl with purple hair and glasses was taking out a pair of pistols from her locker on the other side of the room. _Has she been there the whole time?_

“I just thought you should know. The grape flavour is particularly bad. Being unhealthy isn’t very Huntress-like, after all.” She continued. “It’ll only impede your progress for today’s activities.” She had a dignified way of speaking, much like Raven, but she seemed a little less…distant. Less dominant, more conversational.

“You’re the girl who drew her weapon on Jin yesterday, right?” She inquired. “You were the talk of the school the whole evening.”

_Jin. So that’s the guy’s name._ “Ahahaha, really?” _That doesn’t sound good._ “It was kind of stupid of me, to be honest. I really didn’t want to attract all that attention. “

“There’s no need for concern. Since he had his Aura, you wouldn’t have harmed him, anyway. Personally, I think you were quite brave, standing up to Jin like that.” She smiled at her. “Summer, right? Pleased to meet you. I’m-“

“Heather Fox, number one student of Dusk Academy, Vacuo.” Raven stepped into the locker room. The two girls turned to her in surprise. “Youngest daughter in a family reputable for producing fine Huntsmen and Huntresses. Weapon: Set of dual Dust-powered pistols. They look rather intricate, however this is a ruse. They are perfectly ordinary guns and are rather low-quality. They provide a distraction for the real weapon: the spectacles, a state-of-the art creation of Atlesian technology. They are programmed to analyze an opponent’s stats and possible moves and come up with an ideal battle strategy. Overall a creative weapon in design and application. I rate it a solid A.”

Heather’s eyes widened. “Impressive! Not many people see through my strategy even after I defeat them. You seem to know your information quite well.”

“I do my best.” Raven replied coolly. She walked over to her locker and retrieved her weapon; a long red katana with multiple slots for Dust enhancements.

Summer suddenly realized she was standing in a room alone with (presumably) two of the best students in the entire Academy. And getting a closer look at Heather, she was just as beautiful as Raven, with her tall, lithe body and long, flowing hair. She started to feel more than a little inadequate. _I have a long way to go if I ever want to compare to these two._

“So, Summer, who do you think will be on your team?” Heather inquired.

“Hmm?”

“Your team. Everyone at Beacon gets sorted into a team of four after the initiation. The initiation will determine who gets to be on whose team. You must have given some thought about who you’d want to be your comrades for the next four years.”

Summer had not given much thought to it. She’d figured that she’d just have to put up with whoever she ended up with. Still, she tried her best to answer Heather’s question.

“I wouldn’t mind having Tai on my team.” She admitted. “He can be a bit annoying, but he’s a nice guy and I feel pretty comfortable talking to him. Honestly though, I think I’d be OK with anyone as long as it’s not that guy with the sceptre from yesterday.”

“Ah yes, him.” Raven curled her lip dispassionately. “Jin Shi-Huang. The black sheep of a rather well-to-do family in Atlas. Went to Jupiter Academy, and had rather above-average combat capabilities. That being said, his…disposition leaves something to be desired.”

_That’s one way to put it._ Summer shuddered as she remembered how Jin had smiled cruelly as he’d bullied Harriet. These were the type of people she’d always been afraid of growing up. Sometimes people were just as-if not more-frightening than Grimm.

“Morning, ladies!” A familiar voice rang out from behind her.

Tai walked into the room with his usual smile. Several other students followed behind him, including Qrow. It seemed to other students were getting up now.

“Hey Tai.” Summer smiled. What she’d said to Heather wasn’t a lie; she really was comfortable being around him. He was just one of those people who was easy to get along with.

“Hey Summer. Today’s the day, huh? Hope you’re ready to go out there and prove yourself! I know I am!” Tai was as energetic as before. He walked over to his locker, humming to himself.

Raven, meanwhile, was glancing skeptically at her brother, who had extracted his weapon-an enormous sword-from his locker.

“Brother, did you remember to tune your blade before you went to bed yesterday?”

“Wha-? O-of course I did!” Qrow replied unconvincingly. “Besides, it’s not like it’s gonna break just because I forget to add the Dust _one_ time!”

“Mm, if you say so. Just know it will be your fault when you’re surrounded by Grimm in the forest, without a working weapon, screaming helplessly, “Please, sister, help me! If only I’d listened to you earlier!””

“You’re the worst.” Qrow sighed. “Well, anyway, we’ll probably end up on the same team, so you can watch over my ass all you want. You don’t need to worry about me doing anything stupid, though.” He turned to Summer with a scowl. “I’m not so sure about _her,_ though.”

“Huh? Me?” Summer was taken aback.

“Yeah, you. I’m not sure what was going through your head when you drew your little bow on the idiot’s face, but keep doing dumb crap like that and you won’t last long here, I can tell you that.”

“She was defending that Faunus girl!” Tai rushed to her defence. “She did the right thing!”

Qrow snorted. “You’re talking like she was acting outta some sense of _courage_ or _justice._ As far as I could tell, she was just being too stupid to think for herself before acting.” Tai stared at him in shock, astonished by the young man’s rudeness.

Summer was taken aback by Qrow’s hurtful words, which were all the more painful in how true they were. _He’s right. I really wasn’t being brave at all. I just acted on instinct. That wasn’t courage, it was foolishness. Something unbecoming of a Huntress._ Still, she couldn’t just stand there and take it.

“And what would you have done?” She murmured as loud as she could.

“What?” He seemed surprised by the question.

“If you’d seen someone being unfairly treated, wouldn’t you have done whatever you could to defend them?” She asked. She wasn’t sure where this sudden confidence in herself had come from, but she kept going. “You’re right. I acted stupidly. But my instincts told me to protect that girl who was unable to protect herself. Isn’t that the whole point of being a Huntress?”

“I…” Qrow was left speechless, staring at her. His gaze lowered. “Don’t act like you know anything about me.” He muttered pathetically.

There was an awkward silence. Summer looked around her. Most of the students were, thankfully, minding their own business. Raven and Heather were looking at her approvingly. Tai grinned and flashed her a thumbs-up.

Summer glanced at Qrow, who was still staring at the ground with an irritated expression on his face. The way he stood there awkwardly, as if trying to shift attention from himself, felt very familiar to her.

He didn’t radiate the same respectable, dignified air that Raven had, despite being her twin. Most likely, he’d lived his whole life in her shadow. He’d probably struggled a lot for recognition and had never really gotten it. _He’s not too different from me._ Summer noted sadly. She knew how it felt to not be appreciated by others. Still, she couldn’t exactly forgive the fact that Qrow had been a bit of a massive jerk to her.

Raven broke the silence. “Well then, if we’re all done, let us head outside. It wouldn’t do to be late for our first day.”

Right on cue, the speaker in the room suddenly turned on, and Professor Goodwitch’s voice rang out. “All first-year students, please head to Beacon Cliff to begin your initiation. Again, all first-year students please head to Beacon Cliff immediately.”

They all nodded in silent agreement. One by one, they grabbed their equipment and headed out the door.

* * *

 

“I’m glad to see you are all on time.” Ozpin said, glancing over all the students gathered in front of him. “Without further ado, allow me to explain the initiation process.”

Summer looked around uncomfortably. They were standing on the edge of a very steep cliff. Everyone was standing on their own podium, forming a single long row. She looked for familiar faces. Qrow and Raven were on either side of her. Qrow, understandably, hadn’t spoken to her since the incident in the locker room. She could see Tai and Jin further down the line. Harriet and Heather were out of her sight.

She took a deep breath. _Okay, here we go. I can handle it…whatever “it” is._

“Your initiation will take place in the Emerald Forest.” Ozpin explained to the group. As before, Summer had the uncanny feeling that his attention was focused exclusively on her. “Once you have landed, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years.”

_Wait, seriously?_ Summer’s heart sank. Her partner could literally be anyone? She couldn’t choose?

_Well, as long as it isn’t Jin, I’ll be fine,_ she reassured herself.

A sudden thought ran through her mind. _Wait, what did he mean by “landed”?_

“Your task is to make your way to the northern end of the Forest, destroying any Grimm you will encounter along the way. And yes,” he said with a smile, ‘these will be real, bloodthirsty Grimm fighting to kill.”

_That doesn’t sound too bad._ Summer had gone on a few Grimm hunts by herself in preparation for attending Beacon. Nothing too extreme or reckless. Once she had some experience with fighting the beasts, they were taken down rather easily.

“Throughout your initiation, we will monitor you and evaluate your performance, but we will _not_ intervene.” Ozpin continued. “When you reach your destination, you will find several relics scattered throughout the area. Each pair will retrieve one as proof that they have completed the test. Finally, you will all return back here. Are there any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Excellent.” Ozpin smiled. “Then you may begin.”

A loud noise from the far end of the line made Summer jump. She glanced in the direction of the sound. The noise repeated itself, again and again. And were those…students flying?

“See you on the other side, Summer!” Tai whooped. “Hope you’ve got a good landing strategy!”

_W-w-w-w-what?!?_ “Landing strategy?” She yelled, bewildered. “What do you mean?”

Tai froze. His eyes widened in surprise. “Wait. Seriously? Didn’t you know about-“

_Whoosh._ In a flash, Tai was gone, catapulted into the forest via his podium, just like the others.

_Oh no. You have got to be kidding me._

She was wrong. She could _not_ handle this. Before she could speak up, ask Ozpin if maybe he could consider giving her a special mercy treatment, it was her turn.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!” She screamed as she was flung, helpless, into the sky.

In front of her, Raven swung her katana, creating a dark-red rift in the sky. She was absorbed into it, and when the rift faded, she had disappeared.

_Some sort of teleportation technique._ It was cool, but Summer was too busy fearing for her life to appreciate it. She looked behind her to see what Qrow was doing, but he’d vanished-there was only a small black bird flying off into the distance.

_Well. This sucks._

Already, the ground was rushing towards her. Even with her Aura protecting her, Summer doubted she’d survive the crash without some serious injuries. _Think, Summer, think. How should I get out of this?_

She didn’t have any fancy techniques or moves like the others to help her out. But maybe she didn’t need them.

She pulled out a Dust crystal-crystallized Dust energy that could be used as weapon fuel or explosive power in a pinch-out of her pocket, and injected it into her bow. The bow immediately shimmered and began to quiver ominously. Summer smiled grimly. It was a long shot-literally-but it was all she had.

_Here goes nothing._ Aiming it at the ground, she fired. A crimson red streak shot at full force towards the ground.

A loud explosion shook the forest where the arrow made contact. Several trees near the impact zone were decimated immediately. The force from the explosion flung Summer back (painfully) several feet, but ultimately broke the impact of her fall.

_Splat._ Still, that didn’t mean her landing was graceful in the slightest.

_Ouch._ If it weren’t for her Aura, she would be in serious trouble right about now. She’d bruised herself in several places from the fall.

_I probably should have waited an extra second before firing. It might have loosened more of the impact._

Waiting for her wounds to heal, Summer took in her surroundings. Her immediate area was a big, charred-black circle from where her explosive arrow had landed. Thankfully, the damage didn’t spread very far. Summer listened carefully for signs of other students, but heard nothing.

_Oh well._ Her Aura got to work quickly. She was already feeling better. She got up, wincing at the lingering pain, and started running north. _I should get going. I need to find my partner._

Her partner. If she could choose, who would she have picked? _Tai,_ Summer thought immediately. He was friendly, cute, and probably a good fighter. He was also probably the only guy in the school she was really comfortable with.

_I wouldn’t mind Harriet._ The Faunus girl was clearly stronger than she looked, and Summer definitely wanted to protect her from any other bullies who would torment her for her species.

And although it was wishful thinking, she’d really come to like Raven. Strong, mysterious, beautiful-just like a heroine from one of Summer’s favourite fairy tales. _But…would she really want someone like me as her partner?_

Summer’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl. She turned around.

_Grimm!_ She pulled out her bow and fired an arrow into the creature’s skull as it charged towards her. The thing growled weakly before toppling over and disintegrating into nothingness.

_Whew._ It was just a low-level Creep Grimm. Widely considered the weakest form of Grimm, even newbie Huntsmen could defeat them with ease. Unfortunately, the thing hadn’t come alone.

More growling came from behind the trees. No doubt, these Grimm had been attracted by the sound of Summer’s explosive entrance. They came crawling out of the shadows. More Creeps, joined by larger, more dangerous types, like Beowolves and Ursas. Panicking, Summer emptied another round of arrows into the horde, killing a few of them. However, for every one of the beasts she downed, several more simply took its place.

Too late, Summer realized she was surrounded.

_Oh no. There’s no way I can take on this many!_

The Grimm crawled closer to her, clearly smelling her fear. Summer gulped, and readied her bow. With luck, she’d be able to take out at least five of them. But she knew that she’d never be able to defeat them all. Eventually, she’d run out of arrows and Dust crystals…or the beasts would overwhelm her…or both.

And then…she’d be done for.


	5. Partners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer and Tai both find their partners as they go through the initation. However, unbenownst to everyone, a mysterious figure is watching over them with sinister intentions in mind.

**Chapter 4: Partners**

Qrow soared above the Emerald Forest, taking in the scenery. Below him, countless students were going about the initiation in their own ways. Most of them hadn’t encountered much opposition, and were heading towards the destination at a casual pace. The unluckier ones had run into packs of Grimm. Some had run for their lives, prioritizing the test’s completion, while others, enjoying the challenge, had stayed behind to fight them off.

Not Qrow, though. He was flying high above all of the chaos, safe from any danger, in the form of a small bird-his namesake, the crow. This was his Semblance-the power to shapeshift into a crow. It allowed him to survey enemy territory with relatively low risk, and the Grimm, who only attacked humans, would not harm him. It wasn’t the most impressive Semblance in terms of combat, but in certain circumstances it was very useful. This was one of them.

He recalled what Raven had said to him before they’d gone off to the Cliff for their initiation. _“I will go ahead and scout the area. You, brother, will stay in the sky until you receive my signal. Then, come to me, and we will be partners.”_

Qrow sighed to himself. It was a good plan, but it made things far too easy. He’d hoped for at least somewhat of a challenge. At the very least, he wanted to blow off some steam after what that girl had said to him back at the lockers.

_“What would you have done?”_ She’d said. _“My instincts told me to protect that person who was unable to protect themselves. Don’t you think that’s the whole point of being a Huntress?”_

_Tch._ Talk about self-righteous. And reckless, too, what with that little stunt with Jin and all. She had no right to ask him what he “would have done”. She didn’t even _know_ him! And did she really think that some fairy-tale ideology like “protect the helpless” was all there was to being a Huntsman? She really was just a kid. Qrow scowled. _That way of thinking is just gonna get her killed._

A loud explosion rung out from below, but Qrow ignored it. He glanced over the forest, searching for any sign of his sister. She hadn’t said what her “signal” would be, but knowing her, he’d probably know once he saw it.

Sure enough, after about a minute, a red-and-black flare shot into the sky, some distance away, bursting into a majestic flame before disappearing. _Jackpot._ He squinted (or what counted as squinting in his avian form) in the general direction of where the signal had come from.

All of a sudden, a terrified scream rang out. Surprised, Qrow turned around to see where it had come from.

Below him, close to where he’d heard the explosion, a familiar figure in a white cloak was firing arrows at Grimm who were slowly but surely overpowering her. It was her-the girl who’d embarrassed him in front of his sister less than an hour ago. _Holy crap, that’s a lot of them._ They must have been attracted by the explosion.

Qrow glanced uncertainly back at where Raven’s signal had come from. He could just leave the girl, go to his sister, and continue with the initiation. Served her right anyway. Plus, it would probably help for her to learn what it meant to feel true terror for once in her life. Besides, even if she was just a stupid kid, she _was_ a Huntress-in-training, so she could handle it by herself, right?

_No._ Instinctively, Qrow could tell that this girl would not be able to defeat all those Grimm, let alone escape. This was more than any first-year student would ever be expected to face at once. She was completely surrounded-basically a death sentence for an inexperienced Huntsman. And from what he could see, there were no other students in her vicinity who could make it in time to help her. If he left her now, she was dead meat. Simple as that. Which meant there was only one thing to do.

Qrow sighed. _Who knows?_ He thought with resignation. _Maybe she’s not so bad once you get to know her._ With that thought, he spread out his wings and flew as fast as he could in her direction.

* * *

 

Summer was losing quickly.

The Grimm themselves weren’t much of a challenge; one or two well-aimed arrows were enough to kill most of them. The problem was their numbers. There were at least twelve of them all around her, slowly advancing towards her. Soon, she wouldn’t even have any space to run. Then, of, course, she’d be dead.

Cursing, she fired an arrow at a Beowolf that was moving close to the front of the pack. It hit the creature right where its heart should have been, causing it to fall over dead. Once again, though, more Grimm immediately joined the pack and continued to get even closer to the terrified girl.

_They just keep coming!_ Summer could feel desperation welling up in her chest. She forced it down. _Don’t let them smell your fear. Remember, the Grimm are attracted to negative emotions._ She took a deep breath, and took another Dust crystal out of her pocket.

_Should I use this?_ If she fired a Dust-infused arrow, she could kill several of those Grimm at once. The problem was that the explosion would probably attract even more of the creatures. _Well, right now I don’t exactly have a choice, do I?_ She injected the crystal into her bow and fired. The crimson arrow struck an Ursa right in the forehead, generating a large blast that disintegrated all nearby Grimm immediately.

Unfortunately, Summer was also caught in the blast. She was knocked over, hitting the ground with a painful _thud_. Her bow was flung out of her hand, landing several metres away from her. And just to make things worse, there was a nauseating sensation in her body that signified that her Aura-her protective shield-had been depleted. Coughing, she tried to get up, only to find a Beowolf’s disgusting glowing red eyes right in her face.

_Oh, no._ Even that hadn’t been enough. There were still a few Grimm left over from her attack, one was directly in front of her, and right now she was unarmed and completely protected. The creature growled menacingly as it prepared to strike the moment its prey moved a muscle.

_Well, this is it, I guess._ So much for proving that she had what it took to be a Huntress. She was going to die right here, right now, and most likely no one would miss her. It was really a pathetic way to go. Summer closed her eyes and braced herself for the inevitable.

“You really are an idiot.” _Huh? Who was that?_

_Clang._ The loud, metallic noise jerked her back to her senses. She opened her eyes just in time to see a young man wearing a red cape decapitate the Beowolf with his gigantic blade. The creature’s body toppled to ground and faded away.

Her saviour turned around to her with a scowl on his face. “Seriously? You make that big, inspirational hero speech, make me look like a total dumbass in front of my sister, and how ten minutes later you’re just gonna let yourself die? Pathetic.”

“Q-q-q-q-q…” Summer stammered, staring at the boy who’d come to her rescue seemingly out of nowhere. One of the last people she’d ever expected to help her.

“QROW?!?” 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s me, alright.” He sighed. “Mind not yelling my name like a little kid, though? You’ll just attract more of these stupid things.” He pointed towards the two remaining Grimm-a pair of Ursas-who were now right behind Summer.

“Ahh!” She hadn’t noticed them creeping up on her.

“Relax, I got ‘em.” Qrow growled. He shook his greatsword, and a strange whirring noise began to emanate from it. For the first time, Summer got a good look at it, and noticed it had a set of small gears near the handle that were now spinning wildly. All of a sudden, the sword extended itself for a brief moment, before splitting itself into several sections and folding backwards. The noise stopped as the sword completed its transformation.

“Hiyyyaaah!” Qrow yelled, jumping over Summer, swinging what was now a large scythe at the Ursas. With his newfound increase in range, he sliced them both clean in half with a single swing, before landing behind her. The whole thing had happened so fast, Summer had barely seen any of it. _He’s really good with that thing._

She was certainly grateful to him for what he’d just done, but she was also a little bit nervous. She wondered if Qrow still harbored some resentment towards her for their little spat in the locker room. Hopefully not much, since he had just saved her life. Where had he even come from, anyway? She was sure there hadn’t been any other students nearby when the Grimm had attacked her.

Well, she was safe, and for now that was all that mattered.

She got up. “Umm, thanks.” She said uncomfortably to Qrow, as he retracted his weapon back to its normal form.

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” he replied gruffly, not even looking at her. “Figured a kid like you would need my help, considering the crap you were just dealing with.”

“Kid?!” She felt anger rising up inside her, for some reason. “We’re the same age.”

“Physically, we are, yeah, but mentally we’re generations apart. Sorry, but from my perspective, you’re nothin’ but a whiny little brat who’s too cocky for her own good.” He started to walk away.

Summer stared at him in shock. _Unbelievable. Even when he’s saving my life, he still manages to be an insufferable jerk!_

She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Qrow continued.

“Well anyway, now that we’re done here, why don’t we make our way to the destination? If we just wait around here, more of those things will come.” He pointed vaguely in the northern direction of the forest.

“Oh. Right.” While she’d been fighting for her life, she’d completely forgotten about the initiation. She walked over to her bow and retrieved it. Suddenly, she stopped. “Wait, what do you mean, _we_ make our way to the destination?”

Qrow turned around, surprised. “You’re kidding me, right? You seriously already forgot what the old man said? First person you meet after landing…”

_Ah._ Summer recalled Ozpin saying something about that. The first person she made eye contact with after landing would be her…her…

_Oh, no. That meant…_

“Y-you’re…my _partner?!?_ ” She said in utter disbelief.

“What the hell did I just say about not yelling?” Qrow growled, getting even more irritated. “Yeah, rules are rules, pal. Like it or not-and believe me, I don’t like it one bit-we’re partners now. I was flying up in the sky with my Semblance, and I was _supposed_ to meet up with my sister when she gave her signal and be _her_ partner instead, but then I saw you getting your sorry ass kicked, and I just _had_ to feel sorry for you, so I came to help you out, and lucky me! Now I get to be stuck with you for the next four goddamn years!” He was practically yelling (hypocritically enough) at this point. He turned and stomped off. “I shoulda just left you to those bastards.” He muttered under his breath.

Summer was silent. She was practically seething with anger, yet somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to hate Qrow. Sure, he was an enormous jerk, but he’d still saved her. From what he’d said, he could have just left her to die, but he’d chosen not to. That meant he couldn’t be so bad, right? Plus, he was no slouch in the combat department-he could handle that sword-scythe thing with excellent skill.

_I don’t like it either, Qrow. But I guess I’ll have to put with you for now._ She sighed, made sure she had all her equipment, and followed her partner towards their destination.

* * *

 

Raven sat in the clearing, growing more impatient by the second. It had already been five minutes since she’d released the flare into the sky from her katana.

_Strange. Brother should have made it by now._

Had he missed it? No, that was impossible. She was sure she’d made the signal big enough that anyone who was looking above the treeline could see it. Raven Branwen always took pride in doing exactly what she set out to do.

Maybe he’d ignored it and found someone else to be his partner. It wasn’t out of the question. Could it be that her dear brother had finally reached that rebellious age?

_No, that can’t be it, either._ She thought dismissively. As far as she could tell, Qrow wasn’t friendly enough with any of the other students for him to choose them over his own sister. Qrow had never been good at making friends-he was just too rude and crass to hold a civil conversation with anyone. So that was out of the question, as well.

_Perhaps he’s run into some danger?_ Raven couldn’t imagine what, considering he was supposed to be in his bird form, flying safely above all the Grimm. _I suppose a Nevermore could have gotten him? But those things are too big and noisy for Brother to miss one coming for him. Besides, they don’t normally attack creatures other than humans._ Still, her brother being in some sort of peril was the only plausible answer she could think of.

Raven sighed. She’d always believed that people had to look out for themselves-that if you couldn’t defend yourself, you were probably better off dead, anyway. She’d come to Beacon in part to challenge that very belief-to see if maybe there _was_ some worth in aiding the weak and helpless. Of course, that hadn’t been the only reason. In any case, if her brother really was in trouble, she’d just have to help him out.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to sense any sort of abnormality in her immediate area. Any sign of people in distress or danger. She could pick up some levels of fear nearby, but they were most likely students fending off some Grimm. Nothing too urgent, and certainly not her concern. She tried harder, straining to increase her field of perception. Still nothing.

All of a sudden, she felt a spike of adrenaline somewhere near her right. Not too far away, but it was far enough that she couldn’t tell who it was coming from. _Better than nothing, I suppose._ She picked up her katana and swung it, creating a portal in front of her. She stepped in.

When she stepped out of her rift, she was standing behind a set of pine trees. In the clearing ahead, a familiar figure was fighting a gigantic Grimm. Specifically, a King Taijitu, a dangerous snake-shaped Grimm with two heads, each working independently of the other. Most young Huntsmen were recommended to avoid them at all costs.

Not Taiyang Xiao Long, though. The blonde student was deflecting all of the beast’s attacks with relative ease, using his bare hands to fight back. The tattoos on his arms were glowing a brilliant icy-blue. _Ice-type Dust,_ Raven noted.

Her analysis of the young man had been correct. Rather than using a weapon, Taiyang fought using the Dust crystals that were fused into his own body, utilizing the physical boosts they provided to launch devastating attacks. Nowadays, people who could withstand having something as volatile as Dust injected directly into their bodies were few and far between. It wouldn’t surprise her if Tai was the only student in the school capable of such a technique.

“Yaaaahhh!” Tai’s fist glowed the same shade of icy-blue as his tattoos as he thrust it straight into the Taijitu’s skull, knocking it to the ground. Before the thing could retaliate, he extended his palm forward, generating a large, sharp pillar of ice protruding from his hand, and plunged it down on the beast.

The thing gave one last hateful hiss at its opponent, and lay still.

_Impressive._ Raven nodded approvingly. The boy was certainly talented at his craft.

“Phew!” Tai breathed a sigh of relief. “How’d you like that, stupid snake? That’s what you get for messing with a badass like Taiyang Xiao Long, baby!”

_It seems he’s not very intelligent, though._ In his celebration, Tai had forgotten about the beast’s second head, which was now slithering behind him, preparing to strike.

_Here we go._ Raven leaped into the clearing and brought her katana down on the Grimm’s head, killing it instantly. With both heads deceased, the Taijitu finally disintegrated into nothingness like any other Grimm. _For all its magnificence, it dies and fades away like all the rest._

Tai turned around, just now noticing her presence. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Then:

“I could’ve handled it.” Tai said sheepishly.

“You think so?” Raven smiled. “You must be quite skilled, then. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove that skill to me…partner.”

Tai smiled back. “I guess I will, my lovely.”

“It’s _Raven._ ”

“Ahaha, right.” Tai laughed. “Sorry about that. Come on, let’s go.”

* * *

 

While the students of Beacon fought for their lives and forged new relationships in the forest below, a single figure stood far above on the mountain, watching everything. It was really the perfect spot-they could see nearly all the students from where they stood, and their location was out of the view of both the headmaster and his secretary. Furthermore, it was out of the initiation’s boundaries, so they wouldn’t have to worry about being caught on camera.

_This has all been just so easy._ The figure smiled to themselves. They hadn’t figured the staff of the great Beacon Academy would be _this_ incompetent, but they were happy for it. And not just them, either, but the Atlesian military. That young colonel…whatever was his name again? He’d been so busy trying to further his own career that they’d been able to further their plan right under his very nose. It was only once the crime rate in the Kingdom had gotten utterly out of control that he’d noticed anything wrong, and by then it was far too late. They’d already gotten everything they wanted.

_I could do with Atlas and Vale fussing over random incidents while the plan proceeds,_ the figure noted. _In the meantime, there’s still one last thing to do before we move on to the next phase…_

The figure took something out of their pocket. A small, swirling mass of black matter swam around in the palm of their hand. They could hear faint growling coming from it. Disgusting as it was, this… _thing_ was the key to their next objective.

_Remember the Grandmaster’s orders,_ they told themselves. _Do not reveal yourself under any circumstances. Just carry out the mission, and nothing else._

The figure looked down at the sprawling forest, at the students who were scrambling around trying to reach their destination. _I’m running low on time, so let’s get this over with. Just one target is fine. But who? Is there anyone in particular who could-_

The figure saw a lone student walking towards the east side of the forest, clearly lost. Their lips curled up in a sinister smile.

_Ah yes, of course._ Him.

The figure muttered a set of words, and the black mass in their hands twitched briefly before transforming into a more corporeal shape-a small black rat with molten-red eyes. Snarling, it leaped down the mountain towards the forest below.

_I suppose I’d better be on my way too,_ the figure thought to itself.

Moments later, a harmless young sparrow came flying around the side of the mountain, and perched itself where the figure had stood. The figure had vanished, not leaving a single trace that they had been there mere seconds ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a side effect of starting this fic back in 2016 is that I just kinda took for granted that Qrow's shapeshifting was his Semblance. Thankfully, it kinda worked out in the end, as you'll see (much) later.


	6. The First Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer and her friends continue with the initiation, but run into an unexpected obstacle...

**Chapter 5: The First Battle**

Harriet walked carefully through the forest, occasionally glancing around to check for Grimm or other students. Nothing. Everything was eerily quiet. _Looks like everyone must be close to the destination. I should make my way there, too._

All of a sudden, her ears perked up, catching the sound of leaves rustling somewhere nearby. As a Faunus, Harriet had enhanced animal senses that surpassed those of most humans. Although she was primarily adept at agility due to being a rabbit-type Faunus, and couldn’t see or hear as well as a cat Faunus, it was still enough for her to notice that something was very close by.

Instinctively, her feet began to twitch. She readied her weapon, preparing to fight if it was a Grimm approaching her.

However, her worries were unnecessary. A rather out-of-breath Heather came bursting out of a nearby bush, carrying her pistols. “Hahh, hahh,” she gasped. “Alright, I think I lost them.”

She looked up, noticing Harriet. “Oh, hello! You’re that Faunus, Harriet Maroon, right?”

“Umm, yes, that’s me.” Harriet stammered, sheathing her gauntlets. “And you’re, um, Heather Fox, aren’t you? The Vacuo champion.”

“That’s me.” She smiled, adjusting her spectacles. “I suppose now that we’ve properly met, it means we’re partners, hmm? It’s good to meet you, Harriet.” She reached out her hand. Harriet took it reluctantly. “So what have you been up to since we all landed?”

Harriet gestured vaguely behind her. “There was a cave back there. I thought it looked important, so I went in to explore,” she muttered. “There wasn’t much in there, just a couple of Grimm.”

“I see. Well, exploring the unknown is also a part of being a Huntress, isn’t it?” Heather said comfortingly. “Anyway, shall we be off? If we’re lucky, we may run into the others. You want to see that Summer girl again, don’t you?”

Harriet nodded timidly. “Yeah…I guess that’d be nice.”

“Then let’s go.” Heather turned and walked back the way she’d come. Harriet stood there in silence for a moment, frowning uncertainly at her new partner. She seemed distressed…almost afraid of something. Surely one of the best first-year students in the school wouldn’t be so flustered from a few Grimm, would she? Had something else happened to her while she was alone in the forest?

Harriet shook her head. _It’s probably nothing. Anyway, I should concentrate._ With that, she followed Heather into the bushes.

* * *

 

“You hear that?” Qrow asked.

Summer nodded. The pair stood silently for moment, looking around for the source of the noise. Suddenly, a large bird-type Grimm flew above their heads with an ear-piercing screech.

Qrow winced. “Great. So those stupid things are here, too. Let’s hope some other poor sap has to deal with that thing before we do.”

“Yeah,” Summer nodded in agreement.

The two of them continued walking in a rather uneasy silence. Summer glanced up at Qrow, who was walking in front of her while holding his sword over his shoulder. She couldn’t see his face, but she could tell he was very unhappy. _Well, we definitely got off on the wrong foot. Still, what exactly did I do wrong?_ She recalled Qrow’s angry rant at having to become her partner. _I don’t think I did anything that could have pissed him off so much._

Still, it wouldn’t do for the two of them to have to argue like this all four years of their partnership. At some point, they’d have to open up to each other if they wanted to function as a team. Summer wasn’t exactly Qrow’s biggest fan, and she’d never been one to “open up” to others, but now was the time to discard her personal displeasures.

“You’re really good with that sword.” Summer spoke up, still walking. A compliment was probably the best way to start.

“….” There was a brief silence before Qrow replied, “Yeah, I guess I am.”

_Well, he’s willing to chat, so that’s something._ “It can change forms, right? I’ve never seen a sword do that before. I, um, think it’s really cool.”

Qrow turned in surprise. “Really? Most Huntsmen use weapons that have multiple forms. It’s not exactly unique.” Without stopping, he raised his sword over his head and changed it into its scythe form. “Mine isn’t that crazy, really. It’s a big-ass sword, it’s a big-ass scythe.” He retracted it back into a sword, only for the top layer to open up, revealing a built-in cannon. “And it’s also a gun.”

“Whoa…” Summer muttered. Regardless of what Qrow had said, the idea of weapons that could change into other forms was something very new to her. She began to wonder who else at Beacon had weapons that were more than what they seemed. “I think I like the scythe the best.”

“Seriously?” Qrow seemed surprised. “I only ever really use it when I have to deal with something particularly dangerous. It’s badass, yeah, and powerful as hell, but it’s way too heavy and hard to handle, so I just stick with the sword.”

Summer frowned. “But doesn’t it weigh the same?”

“Well…” Qrow struggled to answer. It seemed that he’d genuinely never considered that fact. “Uh, well, yeah. I guess it does.” He paused for a second, then said hesitantly, “Is your thing really just a normal bow? Nothing special at all?”

“I can use Dust to make it stronger, but other than that, yeah, it’s just a bow.” Summer took it out, and examining it, breathed a sigh of relief. _It’s not damaged from that last fight. And I still have plenty of arrows and Dust crystals left._ “I didn’t actually make it. It was the best model they had back at my old school, and they gave it to me as a gift after I graduated at the top of my archery class.”

“Really? You were that good?” Qrow raised his eyebrows. “Huh. Maybe you aren’t as weak as you look.”

Summer winced. _I guess that’s about as nice as he’s gonna get,_ she thought resignedly. “Yeah, I’m alright. What about you? You must have done really well at whichever school you came from.”

“I went to some small place in the countryside-nothin’ too special.” _Just like me,_ Summer noted. “I did pretty well, but…” Qrow’s eyes darkened. “Sis was always the best at everything. She was a master and a genius. The two of us were-not to not sound cocky or anything-leagues beyond any of the other chumps who went there, but she was the number one, so only she got any real attention. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t compete with her.”

“I see.” _So, pretty much as I thought._ “You and Raven came from Atlas, right? She said so yesterday when we first met.”

“Err…” Qrow seemed strangely hesitant to answer. “Well, kind of. It’s a little more complicated than th-“

Before he could finish, a loud explosion shook the area. Red-and-black flames burst out of the trees where the noise had some from.

“What was that?” Summer yelled.

“Sounds like it came from around the destination.” Qrow muttered. “I think I might know who that is. Hold on a sec, I’ll check it out.”

Suddenly, he disappeared into thin air. Or, at least, Summer thought he had, but looking up she saw a small black bird-a crow-flying towards the source of the sound. She remembered seeing the same bird back when they’d all been launched into the forest.

_I get it, that’s his Semblance. So that’s how he found me._

About half a minute passed before Qrow returned, transforming back into his human form. “Grimm at the relic site!” He shouted. “Come on, let’s go! Sis is fighting them off, and your boyfriend’s with her, too.” Without waiting for her response, he ran off.

_M-my “boyfriend”?! Does he mean Tai?_ “O-okay!” She readied her bow and followed him.

* * *

 

They saw the Grimm before they reached the site.

There were lots of them, far more than there had been when Summer had been attacked. Luckily, they hadn’t noticed the pair running up from behind, so Summer and Qrow were able to kill quite a few of them before they noticed their presence.

Bursting into the clearing, they quickly saw the ruined temple where the relic pieces were gathered. They’d reached the destination. Unfortunately, that wasn’t their priority at the moment. In front of the temple, dozens more Grimm were gathered, while Raven and Tai were defending themselves against a giant scorpion Grimm-a Deathstalker.

“Hiya!” Tai’s tattoos were glowing red. He rammed his fists, which were glowing with flame-elemental Dust, at full force into the beast, making small cracks in its tough head. Raven leaped gracefully into the air, swinging her katana with excellent precision, slicing off the Grimm’s stinger. The Deathstalker hissed in pain. Tai turned, noticing Summer and Qrow, and gave a brief wave before returning to his battle.

“Looks like they’re doing pretty well!” Qrow shouted. “C’mon, let’s take care of the rest!”

“Got it!” Summer began firing arrows at Beowolves before they could get too close, while Qrow cut up Creeps and Ursas left and right with his sword.

Summer was feeling rather confident in her abilities. Despite there being more Grimm than before, it was significantly easier with more people by her side. _So this is what it means to have teammates, huh?_

Meanwhile, Tai had landed a well-deserved final blow on the Deathstalker, crushing its forehead with a concentrated Aura punch. Grinning and fueled with adrenaline, he set his eyes on a nearby Beowolf and prepared to strike-only for someone else to decapitate it first.

“Hey, that was my kill!” he protested at Qrow.

“I didn’t see your name on it, Blondie.” He replied bluntly.

“Wait, _what_ did you just call me?” Tai stared at him in disbelief.

“Blondie. I couldn’t be bothered to remember your name, so I’m just gonna call you that. M’kay?” Qrow responded without even looking at him. “Just leave ‘em all to me, you’ll just cramp my style.”

 Tai scowled. “Hey, you’re that kid who insulted Summer in the locker room, right? You’ve got some nerve if you think she’s going to be your partner after that.”

Qrow shrugged. “Wasn’t my idea. I just swooped in to save her after she almost, y’know, _died.”_

Tai’s eyed widened. “Wait, really?”

“Don’t believe me? Ask her. I was actually gonna be Sis’ partner, but it looks like she’s stuck with you, huh? Pity.”

“Heh! Trying to trash-talk me? Don’t underestimate me… _Birdy.”_

Qrow froze. “W-w-what did you just say?” He stammered.

“That’s what your classmates always called you back when you were a kid, right?” Tai grinned evilly. “Your sis told me everything about the two of you growing up on our way here-and I do mean _everything.”_

“K-kh…” Qrow’s face became white as a sheet. “Wh-what exactly did she-“

A loud growling interrupted him. Qrow and Tai realized that in their bickering they’d been surrounded by Grimm. An awkward silence followed.

“Hey Blondie.” Qrow said, readying his blade. “Bet I can kill more than you.”

“In your dreams, Birdy.” Tai grinned. “And if you lose that bet, I’m going to spill your dirty kiddie secrets to the entire school.”

Qrow smirked. “You’re on, pal.” With that, they drew charged into the fray.

_They seem to be getting along,_ Summer noted with mild amusement as she continued to shoot down Grimm. On the other side of the temple, Raven was cutting down Ursas with ease.

_Qrow wasn’t kidding,_ Summer realized. _She’s a master-a genius. I’ve never seen anyone fight as well as she does._

She heard a growl from very close by. _Oh crap! I got distracted._ Panicking, she raised her bow to defend herself from the Beowolf’s attack.

_Bam!_ A gunshot rang out, and the Beowolf slumped over, dead.

“Sorry we’re late!” Heather came running into the clearing, with Harriet close behind. Heather immediately began firing bullets into the hordes of Grimm, while Harriet unsheathed her claw gauntlets and began slashing at some nearby Creeps. She noticed Summer, and smiled shyly at her. Summer smiled back. _Just as I thought, she’s stronger than she looks._ Regaining her composure, she readied her bow once more.

Before long, they’d nearly cleared out all of the Grimm. Suddenly, a high-pitched, familiar screech rang out through the forest, and the giant Grimm bird flew into view of the group.

“An avian-species Grimm-a Nevermore.” Heather murmured, cocking her pistols. “Rare, but deadly. Let’s use teamwork to take it down.” Summer gulped, but nodded.

The Nevermore was now flying straight towards them. Raven fidgeted briefly with the Dust slots on her katana’s handle, before firing a black-and-red beam of Dust energy at the beast. Unfortunately, despite landing a direct hit, the Nevermore only seemed to become more enraged. Cawing madly, it continued its descent.

Everyone dodged out of the way as it neared the ground. “We need more firepower!” Heather yelled. Using her spectacles, she quickly gauged the bird’s weak points and began firing at them. Harriet loaded an Aura Capsule into her gauntlet and launched a powerful laser beam. Summer fired as many Dust-infused arrows as she could spare. Qrow transformed his sword into its gun form and bombarded the Nevermore with bullets. The Nevermore flew wildly around the area, dodging as best as it could.

All of their attacks began to slow the beast down, but it wasn’t quite enough. Screeching, it prepared for another dive attack.

“Hey, everyone.” Tai spoke up suddenly. “Can all of you gather around me for a moment? Get as close as possible.”

“Huh?” Qrow stared at him. “What’s this all about?”

“Just do it!” Reluctantly. Qrow obeyed. Summer, Raven, Heather and Harriet also stepped closer to him.

Tai breathed. “Ok, that should be good.” He moved into a battle stance, grinning. “Now prepare for awesomeness.”

He closed his eyes and focused. Suddenly, his body began glowing. The young man was practically radiating energy.

“W-what is this…power?” Summer asked, awestruck.

“Oh, I see! Quite impressive.” Heather smiled approvingly.

Raven nodded. “Taiyang Xiao Long’s Semblance. When others are in his close proximity, his Aura increases in power. The more individuals he has supporting him, the stronger his attacks become.”

The Nevermore was closer than ever now. It opened its beaked mouth and prepared to strike.

“Hrooooooh….HRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!” Tai yelled, his fist meeting the bird’s face.

There was an ear-splitting explosion of golden energy as his attack made contact. The Nevermore was completely obliterated by the impact alone, and disintegrated. Several trees in Tai’s direction were knocked clean over. There was a brief silence. “W-wow…” Harriet muttered in awe.

Summer nodded in agreement. Tai was certainly powerful. With a single blow, he’d destroyed the Nevermore like it was nothing. His Semblance was really impressive, too.

“Well,” Qrow said, trying to remain composed but clearly awestruck as well. “That was something. I guess you win this one…Tai.”

Summer glanced at Tai thoughtfully, remembering something he’d said when they’d first met. When Summer had explained her reason for attending Beacon.

_“Not having to rely on anybody else…I see. That’s a pretty good reason,”_ he’d said with an unusually serious expression.

And now it turned out his Semblance relied entirely on having other people to support him. Summer couldn’t help but feel the two things were connected somehow.

“It seems that that’s done with.” Raven spoke up. “The rest of the Grimm appear to have retreated. I think it is best that we finish what we came here to do.” _Oh right, the relics,_ Summer thought.

As Ozpin had instructed, each pair took a relic from the temple. Summer and Qrow took one that looked like the head of a small horse. Looking at Tai and Raven, Summer noted that their relic looked the same. Heather and Harriet took a relic that had the shape of a castle. There were spaces in the spots where the relics were placed; it seemed other students had already reached the destination before them.

“Phew!” Tai sighed. “That sure felt good. Good play, partner…” he said, grinning at Raven, “…Summer,” he continued, flashing a thumbs-up at her, “…and Birdy.” He smiled hesitantly at Qrow.

“Please don’t call me that.” He muttered.

“Sorry.” Tai smiled sheepishly. “You’re pretty good with that sword…scythe…whatever the heck it is, huh? The sword’s especially cool.”

Qrow smiled back. “I do my best. Y’know, Summer actually thought the scythe was the coolest one.”

Tai raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? It just looks way too impractical to use, if you ask me.”

“I know, right? Wonder what she was thinking.” Qrow grinned. “So, um…can you _not_ spread my, uh, unsavoury childhood memories to everyone at Beacon?”

Tai smirked. “We’ll see about that, Qrow. Anyhow, as a token of respect to your badassery, I’ll forgive you for being a jerk…at least for now.” He held out his hand for a fist-bump. Hesitantly, Qrow accepted it.

“Are we all done here?” Heather asked. Everyone nodded. “Alright then. Let’s head back to the cli-“

“Not so fast.”

A new voice rang out. The group turned around to see a young man with black hair, bushy eyebrows and a yellow robe walking towards them with a royal sceptre in hand.

Jin.

Upon seeing the bully, Harriet yelped in fear and hid behind Heather.

Summer felt a rush of nausea, seeing the bully from yesterday approaching them. He had his usual unpleasant grin, but something seemed different about it…

“Jin Shi-Huang?” Heather stared at him in surprise. “When did you get here? Do you not have a partner yet?”

“Shut up. I’m not here to talk to any of you.” Jin sneered, and pointed his sceptre in Summer’s direction. “I’m here for _you_ , lady.”

“Me?” Summer asked, shocked.

“That’s right. You haven’t forgotten yesterday, right? We never finished our duel…thanks to that rotten bitch over there.” He spat at Raven. “But now, nothing’s gonna get between me…and my prey. I’m gonna teach you a lesson in respect…that you’ll never forget!”

“You…” Tai stared at him, furious. “Just let it go, won’t you? Now’s not the time to pick a fight! You’ll just get marks off for attacking a student! Are you really that stupid?”

Summer hesitated, then spoke up. “Hey guys…is it just me, or does something about Jin seem…off?”

“I don’t see anything different.” Tai growled. “As far as I can tell, he’s still as much of a jackass as he was yesterday.”

Qrow shook his head. “No…Summer’s right. I can’t really tell what, but…” He turned to Raven. She nodded.

“Yes, Brother. I can sense it…something is wrong. I feel…an unnatural presence around that boy.” She turned to Summer. “Be on your guard.”

Summer nodded. She could now see what the problem was. Jin’s movements…the way he walked…it seemed unnatural-forced, even.

As if someone was controlling him.

* * *

 

On top of Beacon Cliff, Ozpin glanced at his Scroll. Several students had already returned from their initiation, but he paid them no attention.

A few minutes ago, Glynda had drawn in a sharp breath and said: “Sir-!”

“Hmmm?” Ozpin had replied. “What is it?”

“One of the students…Jin Shi-Huang. He’s being…”

Ozpin had looked over at her Scroll. On it, he could see Jin wandering alone through the forest. Behind him was a small black rat-like creature. Suddenly, the creature dissolved into a thick black substance and entered the young man’s body. Jin shuddered for a moment, then continued walking as before.

“Is that…” Glynda muttered. “Sir, could this be-“

Ozpin nodded gravely. “It is. I know all too well what that creature is. It seems our enemy is here.”

“Then we should-“

“No, Glynda. We will do nothing.”

“But sir-“

“Please understand, Glynda. If we break tradition and directly interfere with the initiation, it will only cause confusion-exactly what the enemy wants. I have reason to believe that, at this moment, Mr. Huang is not in any serious danger. And so, for now we shall simply observe.”

“…Understood.” Glynda looked unhappy, but she had not furthered the argument.

And now, Ozpin stood there, watching as Jin drew his weapon once more on Summer Rose and her companions. He, too, could clearly notice the changes in the young man’s behaviour. He, more than any other man, had plenty of experience with noticing when people were acting differently.

Yet even he was not certain how this scenario would play out. Even so, he’d chosen to have faith, and would continue to do so.

“Now, Summer Rose,” he murmured. “What will you do?”


	7. The Strongest Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Backed into a corner, and determined to prove herself, Summer fights Jin, but something's clearly wrong...

**Chapter 6: The Finest Team**

“Well?” Jin sneered. “If you’re all done talking, how about you stand aside and let me take care of business, hmm?”

 Summer glared at him. There was no more doubt in her mind-something was seriously wrong with him. Jin was an unsavoury person, it was true, but she didn’t think he was the type to endanger his own reputation as a Huntsman just to settle a petty grudge. Whatever the case, Summer had a sinking feeling she wouldn’t be getting out without a fight.

Behind everyone, Harriet muttered something quietly under her breath. Summer could just make out the words “Don’t hurt me.”

_Poor thing._ Summer felt her resolve increasing as she remembered how she’d stood up for Harriet yesterday. She spoke up.

“Okay, Jin. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but it looks like you’re not going to leave us alone,” she said, trying to sound as confident as possible. “I accept your challenge. Let’s finish what we started.”

“Summer, no!” Tai reached out to stop her. “Don’t fall for his bullsh-“

“It’s ok, pal,” Qrow growled. “She’s made her decision, so let her handle it.”

“But…“

“It’s important for a Huntress to never back down from a challenge, no?” Raven chipped in. “Personally, I have no desire to intervene this time. I wish to see how she deals with this situation.”

“And in the meantime we’ll observe the idiot.” Qrow added. “Something’s definitely up with him, so it’ll be our job to find out what. Got it?”

Reluctantly, Tai conceded. “Fine. But the second something goes wrong, I’m helping her out.”

Heather squinted at Jin through her glasses. “Hmmm…physically, he seems perfectly normal.” She turned to Summer. “If it helps, I can analyze his weak points for you.”

Summer shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I think I can do this by myself.” That wasn’t entirely true. She was scared out of her mind. But at the same time, she didn’t want to feel weak and have to rely on help from others. That was why she’d become a Huntress, after all.

Jin smiled. “Well then…let’s start.” With that, he charged.

He was faster than Summer had expected. She barely dodged his strike in time. Before Jin could turn back around, Summer fired several arrows at his chest. They bounced harmlessly off his Aura. Swearing, he shook his sceptre, causing it to change form. _Another multi-part weapon!_

The top of the sceptre opened to reveal a small green jewel-a jade. Jin pointed the weapon at Summer, and began firing green energy bolts. _Wind-type Dust!_ Summer tried to dodge, but true to their element, the beams were extremely fast. The last one hit her square in the stomach. “Ugh!” she grunted. Her Aura had recharged since it had been depleted earlier, but with that hit she could feel it decreasing rapidly. _Focus. Don’t let him overpower you!_ She began firing more arrows at him.

Smirking, Jin flipped a switch on his spectre, and the jewel shot out a single long beam of green light, changing the weapon into a beam sword. Swiftly, he deflected her arrows. Yelling, he charged again at Summer.

Gritting her teeth, Summer pulled a dark-brown Dust crystal-Earth type Dust-and inserted it into one of her arrows. The arrow immediately hardened. With her makeshift sword, she parried Jin’s blows as best as she could. Close-range combat was always a weakness of hers, but she wasn’t going to let that hold her down.

_Swish. Clang._ The two of them met blow-for-blow several times before Summer began to feel overwhelmed. Jumping back, she loaded the arrow into her bow and fired. It impacted Jin’s sceptre, generating a blast that knocked him off his feet.

“Tch!” He growled. “Guess I have to take you more seriously.” He raised his sceptre, which was now back in its base form, and plunged it into the ground. The earth began to rumble loudly.

On the sidelines, Tai stumbled. “What’s this?” he yelled.

Qrow’s eyes narrowed. “Looks like he decided to use his Semblance.”

Suddenly, cracks appeared were Summer was standing. With a panicked yelp, she leapt out of the way as the ground split open. _His Semblance is earth manipulation!_

The ground beneath Jin began to shake as well. The small circle of land where he stood rose up, until he was standing at least fifty metres above her. Now having the height advantage, he fired more energy beams at Summer.

_Don’t think you’ve won just because you’ve got the high ground!_ Summer dodged the beams and fired her arrows at Jin, who quickly switched to beam sword-mode and deflected them. All of a sudden, Summer felt something grabbing her by the ankles. “Huh?” She looked down.

A pair of hands made of dirt had emerged from the ground and seized her. She was pinned down.

“Nowhere to run now, lady!” Jin whooped. He fired more beams. Desperate, Summer launched some arrows in an attempt to intercept them mid-air, but several attacks still hit her. She felt the rush of pain as her Aura depleted even further. There wasn’t much of it left. Thankfully, she’d also managed to shake free of the dirt-hands, and was ready to come up with a counter-attack.

_Okay, so as long as I’m on the ground, I’ll be at Jin’s mercy,_ she thought. _So…_

She took out an ice-type Dust crystal. It was her last one, so she’d have to make it count. She loaded it into her bow. Then, she leapt into the air and aimed downward.

As the arrow hit the ground, a large portion of the clearing became encased in ice. Summer landed safely on it, while struggling to keep her balance. _I’ll need to be more careful now, but at least I won’t have to worry about his Semblance._ Before Jin realized why his Semblance wasn’t working, she fired more arrows at him, and this time he wasn’t fast enough to deflect them. “Argh!” he struggled to remain on his platform. He sneered at her. “You think you’re clever, huh? Let’s see if you can handle _this!”_

As he spoke, the ground rose up all around the area that Summer had covered in ice, surrounding her. Jin smirked. “You can’t escape from me now, lady! Now, I can finish you with my next move!” He swung his sceptre, which began to glow with energy. It seemed he was concentrating all of his Aura onto his next strike.

Summer realized that she’d been cornered. She struck Jin with more arrows, until she had nearly run out, but they simply bounced off of him. _Does he still have that much Aura left?_ From the amount of energy Jin was giving off, his attack looked like it would impact the entire area she was enclosed in. And Summer was sure nothing she had would be able to block it.

In other words…she’d lost.

“Hraaah!” Jin leapt off his platform, holding his sceptre above his head, ready to strike…

…when suddenly, his eyes widened and he slumped over in midair. He crash-landed right in front of Summer, unconscious. The ground began to shift back to the way it was before.

“Is he…” Tai looked at Jin in confusion. “What just happened to him?”

“He just…collapsed?” Qrow seemed just as bewildered.

“All of his vitals just… _dropped_ all of a sudden…” Heather murmured. “He’s still alive, but…”

Raven drew in a sharp breath. “Everyone-look!”

Jin’s body had begun to shudder. Suddenly, he vomited out a strange black fluid. Eventually, it leaked out from his nose and ears as well.

“Holy crap, that is disgusting as hell.” Qrow exclaimed. “What even _is_ that?”

The fluid began to merge into a singular entity. Within seconds, it had morphed from a shapeless mass of matter into a strange rat-like creature. Without hesitating, Raven leapt at it with her katana, but the thing was too fast. With a snarl, it ran away into the forest.

“Was that a _Grimm?”_ Tai asked in disbelief.

“It looks like it, but…” Heather seemed dumfounded as well. “It doesn’t look like any Grimm in the Hunter’s Encyclopedia. Even with my glasses I…couldn’t get a single read on it.”

“I’m going to go after it!” Qrow yelled, changing into a bird and following the thing into the trees.

“M-me too! I’ll help!” Harriet, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly ran with her rabbit-like speed after Qrow before anyone could stop her.

“...That’s his Semblance, huh? Well, that sure explains the heck out of the name ‘Birdy’.” Tai said after the two of them had run off. “So, while they deal with that, let’s check to see if this dimwit is ok.”

Tai, Raven and Heather joined Summer in inspecting Jin’s body, trying not to slip on the ice. The young man seemed to be breathing normally. He was snoring rather loudly.

“I’m almost tempted to draw a moustache on his face just to piss him off.” Tai joked.

“Please don’t.” said Raven. “It seems that strange presence I noted earlier had vanished. That rat Grimm must have been the source.”

“So…it _was_ a Grimm, then?”

“I’m afraid I did not get a close enough look. For brevity’s sake, however, we will classify it as such until we have evidence to the contrary. As for you…” She turned to Summer.

“Me?” Summer asked.

“Yes. Your fighting skills are surprisingly adequate. I had assumed from your appearance and simplistic weapon that combat was not your strong suit. However, your actions these past two days have proven that you may have what it takes to be a Huntress after all. In fact, I believe you underestimate yourself.” She flashed her a quick smile before her gaze turned serious. “That being said, you still lack polish. Just now, you were about to lose. You could feel it, couldn’t you? I don’t believe I need to warn you that if you do not train yourself to the bone during your time at Beacon, you will never be able to graduate.”

Her words were harsh, but not insulting. If anything, Summer felt better. “You don’t have to worry about me,” she smiled at Raven. “I think I’ll manage somehow. Thanks anyway, Raven. I look forward to working together with you someday.” _She sure is scary when criticizing you, though._

Raven smiled back. “And I you, Summer. I’ll look after your friend Tai and make sure he doesn’t do anything too foolish. I promise.”

“Hey, I heard that!” Tai protested. Raven ignored him, still smiling.

“If there will be no more interruptions,” Heather spoke up. “I think we should make our way back to the Cliff now. We can explain everything to Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch.”

“What about Qrow and Harriet?” Summer asked. “And we can’t just leave Jin here either.”

“Brother can handle himself.” Raven replied. “He can get back to the Cliff by himself without issue.”

“You don’t have to worry about Harriet, either,” Heather added. “She may be shy, but from what I’ve seen she’s more than capable of looking after herself. As for Jin, his vitals seem stable now, so he will wake up by himself soon. I don’t think he’s in any danger of being attacked by Grimm, either.”

“In that case, I guess we should go.” Tai said. Summer nodded in agreement.

The group packed up their equipment and relics and headed back towards the Cliff.

* * *

In his bird form, Qrow scanned the area below for any trace of the rat Grimm. He noticed a sudden motion near a tree. _There!_ He flew after it. _You’re not gettin’ away!_

The rat, noticing it was being chased, began to speed up. Qrow was struggling to keep up with it. _C’mon, c’mon, don’t lose it, or Sis will never let you hear the end of it!_

The rat changed direction. It seemed to be heading for the nearby mountain range. Upon reaching the base of the mountain, it suddenly paused. _What the hell? Why’d it stop?_

Snarling softly, the creature dissolved back into a gaseous fluid and began flying up the mountain. _I’ve never seen any Grimm do that before. Just what_ is _that thing?_

Qrow flew up, following the black mass as it ascended. The thing reached a small ledge in the middle of the mountain where someone was standing, hand outstretched. It shrank into a small whirling ball of matter as the figure put it safely in their pocket.  

_Who is_ that _?!?_ Qrow tried to get a closer look at the figure as he approached. The figure was wearing a mask that covered their whole face. The mask was completely white, except for two black dots that were supposed to represent their eyes. From one eye, a single streak of blood flowed down all the way to the bottom of the mask. Behind the mask, they had long auburn hair that flowed down their back. _A woman?_ Qrow thought. Other than their pale-skinned hands, all the figure’s physical features were hidden by a long black robe. On the robe was a peculiar symbol. Qrow squinted. It appeared to resemble a sword impaled through a pig’s head.

Suddenly, the figure spoke. “Well now, I believe the experiment was a success.” Their voice sounded deep and masculine, but it was clearly distorted by the mask; most likely it was nothing close to their real voice. They glanced straight at the crow which was circling around, trying to look inconspicuous. “Wouldn’t you agree, Qrow Branwen?”

Qrow’s heart leapt. This person knew he was there. They knew what his Semblance was. But how? Had they seen him? Well, there was no point hiding, then. Instinctively, he transformed back into a human and leapt at the masked man with his sword. They dodged the attack easily, and struck at Qrow with a powerful kick.

“Gah!” The masked man was strong. Qrow was knocked painfully onto the ledge. His attacker landed next to him, and leaned close to his ear. “I will let you go this time, Qrow Branwen. After all, Buck and the Grandmaster have big plans for you…and Raven, of course. But try to defeat me a second time and I won’t be so generous. After all…your sister is the one we _really_ need-not you.” The masked man turned and leapt off the side of the mountain.

“Wait! Damn you!” Qrow growled, getting up and looking over the ledge. The mystery man was gone. _Where the hell did he go?_

Qrow pondered what the masked man had said. “Buck…and the Grandmaster?” he muttered. “Never heard of them before.”

_“After all…your sister is the one we_ really _need-not you.”_

What the hell did that mean? What did they “need” Raven for? Qrow wondered if the masked man had said that simply to provoke him-to imply to him that he wasn’t as valuable as his sister. _Nice try, pal, but that won’t work._ He couldn’t deny that he was jealous of Raven’s abilities, but he’d long accepted that he’d probably never surpass her.

_Whatever that guy was saying, it’s probably best that I report back to the others. Knowing Sis, she already told them to leave without me._

“Qrow! Is that you?” A voice rang out from far below.

Qrow looked down in surprise. It was that rabbit Faunus, Harriet Maroon. She seemed to be out of breath.

“Hey, Harriet!” he yelled down at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I…hahh…I…also came to chase that thing!” she panted. “I thought I saw it go into that big cave over there, and I…hahh…went in to look, but it wasn’t…hahh…there. Did you…hahh…find it?”

_She must have mistaken a Creep for it or something._ “Uh, kind of. Anyway, we should head back. I’ll explain everything there.”

He turned into a bird and flew towards Beacon Cliff. Harriet ran after him.

* * *

 Outside the door to the stage, Summer fidgeted anxiously.

Upon their return, they had explained to Ozpin and Goodwitch what had happened. Their reaction had been surprisingly subdued. They’d simply nodded and told them that they’d take care of the situation, and to get back to Beacon for their team formation ceremony. _They probably saw everything on their Scrolls,_ Summer realized.

According to a school nurse, Jin had woken up shortly after the incident with no memory of what had happened; the last thing he remembered was getting lost in the Emerald Forest.           Peeping through the door, Summer saw he was on the stage with three young men that she didn’t recognize. _That’s his team, huh?_

“Jin Shi-Huang, Augustus Clover, David Stone, and Edward Crown.” Ozpin announced as the four of them lined up on the stage. “The four of you retrieved the White Bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team JADE (jade), led by Jin Shi-Huang.” The audience applauded.

“Our turn now.” Heather said cheerfully. “Come on, everyone.” Her teammates, consisting of Harriet and two boys, walked through the door onto the stage.

“Heather Fox, Harriet Maroon, Torrence Greene, and Regal Swanwing.” Ozpin announced. “The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team HTHR (heather), led by Heather Fox.” More applause.

“Now it’s us!” said Tai. “Let’s get out there and look awesome!”

“Big deal, it’s just a stupid ceremony, anyway.” Qrow yawned, but he looked rather nervous. Raven seemed quietly interested in what was about to happen.

Summer gulped. _Qrow’s right, it’s just a ceremony. No need to worry._ The four of them stepped out and lined up on the stage.

“Summer Rose, Qrow Branwen, Raven Branwen, and Taiyang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team STRQ (stark), led by Summer Rose.” The audience applauded again.

_Wait, seriously? I’m leader?_ Summer could hardly believe it. She’d been sure that Raven would have been made leader.

“Congrats, Summer!” Tai whooped. “Guess I’m going to be your loyal stooge from now on, eh?”

“Heh! Don’t think you can order _me_ around! I _am_ your partner, after all!” Qrow said with a grin.

 “Well done.” Raven smiled. “I look forward to working with you.”

Summer nodded at them all. Strangely, she didn’t feel nervous anymore. She actually felt as if she could handle this responsibility. She glanced at Ozpin. As always, he was gazing at her with a suspicious intensity. Now, she met his gaze confidently. She was a leader now, and she’d do everything she could to make her new team the finest in all of Beacon.

Summer Rose was ready for anything.

* * *

 “So?” Glynda asked.

“It’s as we suspected.” Ozpin murmured. “That symbol on the perpetrator’s garment…it matches with the insignia left at nearly all of the crimes that occurred recently in Atlas.”

“And what of the names Qrow mentioned?”

“Mmm, I believe the person they called the ‘Grandmaster’ is indeed our enemy. Most likely our perpetrator chose that title for them.”

“So they’re finally making their move.”

“Their ‘move’ began a long time ago, Glynda. This is merely another phase in their plan. Until we can be certain what their current objective is…we must not act rashly.”

“Very well. And this Buck person, sir?”

“After searching through the records, I did find one possible suspect bearing that name. A middle-aged canine Faunus residing in Vale. His full name is Timber ‘Buck’ London.” On his Scroll, he brought up the man’s picture.

Glynda frowned. “You think a Faunus could be involved in this?”

“It is a mere possibility. Admittedly, his background appears quite innocent. Mr. London is a member of a small Faunus-governed organization that monitors the interactions between humans and Faunus. Let’s see…” he scrolled down. “Ah yes. Its name is the White Fang.”

* * *

  _“Yes. The experiment went off without a hitch.”_

_“…”_

_“Yes, it seems directly assuming control over the target’s movements uses up their Aura faster. That being said, it still served its purpose.”_

_“…”_

_“No. They suspect nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. They believe we are involved, but they lack conclusive evidence. I plan to keep it that way.”_

_“…”_

_“Are you sure, Grandmaster? Surely I could help with-“_

_“…”_

_“…As you wish. I’ll lay low until the Vytal Festival. Anything you would like taken care of before then?”_

_“…”_

_“The girl? Summer Rose? I don’t quite understand…”_

_“…”_

_“…Very well. I will observe her. With my position, I think that will be a rather easy task.”_

_“…”_

_“Understood, Grandmaster. I will have results for you very soon.”_


	8. An Ordinary Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer and her new team grow accustomed to their new schedule at Beacon Academy, but a dangerous enemy is plotting in the shadows...

**Chapter 7: An Ordinary Day**

It was midnight, but the streets of Vale were still filled with people going about their usual business-some shopping, others conversing with close friends, and others still hard at work at late-night jobs. The area near the docks was almost completely empty, however, save for one of the old warehouses where the boats and other materials were stored. Inside, a single figure stood within the rotting walls, glancing at a document.

From behind, he seemed like any other forty-year old man, with his large build, a mahogany-coloured business suit, and graying brown hair. However, from the front this was not the case. In addition to his wrinkled, scarred face, stout nose and large, dark-brown eyes, he had two pairs of enormous, sharp fangs protruding from his mouth.

This man’s name was Timber London, an executive of the White Fang Treaty Oversight Committee in Vale. Everyone he knew called him ‘Buck’, after his embarrassingly large teeth that marked his status as a mere animal-a Faunus. But now, it was no longer an embarrassment to him. If anything, it was a symbol of pride. Of power.

He spat in disgust at the paper he was holding. It read “Kingdom to Set Land Rights near Patch for Faunus Settlement”. He’d seen this scenario time and time again. He knew all too well how it would end. Broken promises, disappointment, and empty, lifeless apologies. How could the Faunus still stomach this injustice even after the atrocities of the Great Faunus War?

“Master Buck!” A voice rang out from outside.

“Come in, lad, and keep your voice down.” He responded. His voice was raspy and unsettling to listen to, like the age-old fear of nails grating on a chalkboard.

A young Faunus opened the door carefully and walked in. He stroked his cat ears nervously as he said:

“It sounds like the plan in Beacon is going well. Have you had any support from the White Fang?”

“Bah. No matter what I say, the fools won’t listen to reason. Weaklings, the lot of ‘em. They have no fire, no fight in their hearts. But they will have, very soon.” He coughed, then steadied himself. “Perhaps it’s time to prepare for the next phase. It’s time I exercised these old bones.”

“Err…” The Faunus hesitated for a second. “I don’t think that’ll be…well…possible, sir.”

Buck scowled. “What in Frith’s name are you saying, lad?”

“…Apparently, we’re supposed to stay quiet until the Vytal Festival. According to the boss-“

“ _I_ am your boss.” Buck glared at him. “The plan proceeds when _I_ say it does.”

“But R said-“

“To _**hell**_ with what R says _!_ ” Buck snarled. “That masked bastard cannot order around a veteran of the Faunus War! I don’t give a _damn_ how many fancy toys he supplies us with-I am the leader of this revolution, and **_no one else._** Am I understood, lad?”

The Faunus nodded, terrified. “Y-yes sir. I-I’ll start preparations immediately!” He got up and ran out of the warehouse as fast as he could.

Buck was left alone. He glanced at the paper still in his hands. He felt like retching in disgust.

“To hell with all of you,” he growled, and tore it into bits.

* * *

 “Well, leader?” Raven asked. “What shall we do today?”

 Summer sighed, fidgeting with her pen. She wasn’t feeling really up to organizing a schedule for her team right now. He glanced with irritation at Qrow and Tai, who were arguing over something trivial.

“...And I’m telling you, it’s ‘the best defense is a good offense!’ That’s how the saying goes!” Qrow growled.

“As if! Everyone with a brain knows it’s the other way around!” Tai retorted.

“Where the hell did you hear that?”

“Uhhh, from one of those sci-fi shows I watch? There’s this badass scene where the guy goes ‘You know what they say-the best offense is a good defense!’ and throws this shield thing around the bad guys! Then the bad guys shoot at the shield and the bullets bounce back and kill them all!”

Qrow scoffed. “That sounds really dumb.”

“ _You’re_ dumb!”

Summer groaned, holding her head. They’d been debating this exact topic for an hour already. Taking her mind off their idiocy, she looked around Team STRQ’s new dormitory.

They’d just moved in, but it already felt like home. They’d unpacked all their belongings and had placed them throughout the room as they saw fit. Qrow had a stack of violent video games that Summer found quite distasteful piled up on his bed. Tai’s collection of Grimm-VS-Hunters actions figures and board games were scattered willy-nilly throughout the room (Summer dreaded the day she’d have to tidy them up). Raven had mounted her replicas of ornate-looking weapons and Huntsman posters on the wall, and she had the entire 30-volume collection of “Freezing Night, Burning Love” (Summer hadn’t dared to ask what they were about) stacked neatly on the bookshelf. As for Summer, she didn’t have much of her own personal treasures. She had some blank books and writing tools for practicing her writing, but that was about it. That thought made her somewhat sad.

No one had talked about the incident in the forest since they’d returned. Qrow had apparently seen the individual who’d been responsible and had reported it to Ozpin, who’d asked him not to tell anyone else-even his new teammates.

Summer gritted her teeth. No one had gotten hurt back in the forest, but the person responsible was still out there. If she wanted to become a strong Huntress, wasn’t it her duty to bring such wrongdoers to justice?

Meanwhile, Tai had wasted no time in whispering some of the stories Raven had allegedly told him into Summer’s ear while Qrow wasn’t looking. For the sake of maintaining her personal image of her partner, she’d chosen not to believe any of them.

“Tai, please, I’m busy. I don’t think my brain can take much more of this,” she’d pleaded while helping Raven unpack her books (and averting her eyes from the covers).

“Aww, come on!” Tai had responded, enjoying himself far too much. “I’ve got a great one about Qrow and a jewellery store…”

And that was how it had went. Team STRQ was certainly an unusual bunch. They weren’t exactly what Summer had expected her teammates to be like. She certainly hadn’t expected that she’d be asked to _lead_ them.

Still, it was nice to know she finally had people she could call friends, comrades she could rely on while at the same time being able to stand up for herself. All things considered, everything had gone as well as it possibly could.

“You know, I believe it’s about time for our next class.” Raven said, snapping her back to reality.

“Ah!” Summer checked the time and realized she was right. “We’ll be late! Come on, guys!” Without waiting for them, she and Raven ran out the door towards the History classroom.

Qrow and Tai got up reluctantly.

“I still think having a metal arm is way cooler than being a stupid computer program.” Qrow said as he walked out.

“Sure, man. Keep living alone in that weird world of yours.” Tai replied, following him.

* * *

“…And it is believed that the first known contact between humans and Faunus occurred shortly after the resolution of the Great War, are there any questions so far?”

Summer tried desperately to focus, but Professor Oobleck simply had the mouth of…well, a twenty-eight year old teacher far too obsessed with coffee for his own good. Not that he was a bad teacher-quirks aside, he was very knowledgeable for his young age. Most of the teachers at Beacon were the old, battle-scarred veterans Summer had expected, but there had been several exceptions-Oobleck and Professor Port, the jovial, pot-bellied Grimm Studies teacher, who had graduated from the same team not too long ago and had begun teaching just this year, and Professor Goodwitch, who taught combat despite looking young enough to pass off for a student herself. _Beacon sure is full of talented people…_ Summer thought.

Raven sat beside her, studiously jotting down notes in frighteningly neat handwriting. She took a glance at Summer’s nearly blank page, gave a disapproving sigh, and went back to writing. Qrow and Tai were leaning back in their seats, bored out of their minds. Qrow hadn’t even bothered to change into his school uniform.

“I think you should write about the motives behind the Great War,” Heather suggested from Summer’s other side. “That seems like it would be on the test.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Summer said graciously.

“Now, I’m sure everyone is aware of the discrimination the Faunus faced at the hands of humanity.” Oobleck continued when no one asked any questions. “This cruel prejudice lasted for many years and came to a head around ten years ago with the Faunus Rights Revolution.”

Summer nodded. She’d heard of that. She was seven when that war had started. The area she’d lived in then hadn’t been affected by it, but she’d still heard vague ideas about what had happened. Riots in the streets of the Kingdom, followed by terrorist attacks. It had gone on like that for three years before peace had been restored.

“The Faunus population decided to take matters into their own hands when the humans decided to force them all onto the small island of Menagerie.” He gestured to a map of the area, and continued while chugging his coffee (somehow): “They were rightfully infuriated and decided to rebel against this unfair delegation.” He brought up several slides portraying Faunus holding protest signs in the streets of all four Kingdoms, fighting back against police officers who were beating them and civilians who threw stones at them.

It was a truly awful sight. Summer looked beside Heather, where Harriet sat, hands shaking. _She was seven when it started, too. It must have affected her deeply._ Heather gave her friend a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Oobleck’s lecture continued. “The situation only truly turned to war after the humans, in their attempt to quell the rioters, accidentally caused the death of a young Faunus girl. Her death was the final spark that ignited the Faunus War.”

He brought up a picture of the ill-fated girl. She was smiling at the camera, and her fox tail could be seen in the back. She couldn’t have been more than twelve. Summer noted that the girl had really beautiful hair. It was a bright shade of red-auburn-and it flowed seamlessly down her back.

Suddenly, she heard a strange sound come from above. She turned.

Qrow, who had been half-asleep the entire time, had drawn in a sharp breath and was now sitting upright, staring intently at the girl. Several nearby students, including Tai, had also noticed his reaction and were staring at him in confusion.

“Ah!” Oobleck had also noticed. With inhuman, caffeine-induced speed, he dashed straight to Qrow’s seat and asked, “Mr. Branwen, I believe you recognize this poor young lady?”

“Uh-er-I, uh…” Qrow seemed caught off guard. His eyes were still fixated on the girl’s picture. “She’s, um…her name was…”

“Violet. Violet Fortune.” A small voice rang out from near Summer, saving Qrow. It was Harriet.

“Excellent!” Oobleck dashed over to her. “Ah I see. Ms. Maroon, as a Faunus, your life was likely touched by the Faunus War as well, no? Were you acquainted at all with Ms. Fortune?”

Hesitantly, Harriet shook her head. “I only…um…I only heard of her once the news of her death had spread throughout the whole Faunus community. I was…really young and umm…I didn’t really get everything that was happening. When things started to get really bad, um…my parents took me and we moved to Vale, where the war was least severe.” She’d been looking down while answering, wringing her hands.

“I see. It must have been terrible for you, all the same.” Oobleck said comfortingly. “Yes, after Ms. Fortune’s death, war sprung up between humans and Faunus almost overnight. Many lost their lives in the battles that followed. The raid on Nimh Valley and the Massacre of Waterdown Village come to mind as the height of the war’s brutality. Finally, after three years, the Faunus gained the advantage in the decisive battle at Fort Castle. With their enhanced night vision, they defeated General Lagune’s forces and won a monumentally important victory-it was shortly afterward that humanity finally signed the peace treaty allowing humans and Faunus to co-exist in peace, and while discrimination against Faunus is sadly prevalent even to this day it is nowhere near as bad as it once was, and there is no threat of another war anytime soon.” He took a deep breath. “Are there any questions?”

The students shook their heads, while scrambling to copy down notes before the professor could continue.

“Actually, I do have a question.” It was Raven. “Ah! Ms Branwen, excellent, what would like to know?”

“Professor, you claimed that the Faunus were mistreated. I will neither rebuff nor affirm your statement, but I would like to ask: are they really so deserving of our sympathy?”

“I…don’t quite understand.” Oobleck seemed perplexed.

“What I am saying is this.” Raven was starting to get looks from everyone in the class, but she continued without hesitation. “If the Faunus believed they were treated unfairly, surely they could have retaliated long ago. And yet, they stood by and did nothing to defend the name of their own kind, only taking action when something truly indefensible began to threaten them-and even then, the result was the loss of countless lives, including many of their own. I fail to see how their situation was not at least partially their own incompetence.”

Several people gasped in shock. Students began to murmur among themselves. Besides Summer, Heather was glaring daggers at Raven, while Harriet simply looked dumbfounded.

“Sis…” Qrow growled warningly at her from above. Tai looked at her as if she’d grown a second head.

“I can understand if some of you find what I am saying distasteful. However, I am merely stating my opinion on the matter. Out in the world today, I have seen Faunus who claim that they do not deserve _equal_ treatment-rather, it is humanity who must become subjugated as justice for their crimes against them. Can anyone in this room-human or Faunus-honestly sympathize with this belief? All I am saying is this: The Faunus are not free from sin simply because they were once ‘mistreated’.”

“Err…” For once, Professor Oobleck was silent.

Summer was astonished at Raven’s words. _She doesn’t mince her words. Looks like she and Qrow are actually really alike._ Harsh as they were, Summer couldn’t help but see where she was coming from. There were probably many evil Faunus out there in the world. Likely just as many as humans. They weren’t all automatically good just because their species had suffered persecution.

A very uncomfortable silence was hanging over the room now. Suddenly, it was broken by Professor Goodwitch’s voice coming through the speakers. “Would Qrow Branwen and Summer Rose please report to Headmaster Ozpin’s office immediately.”

_Me?_ Summer wasn’t sure why Ozpin wanted to see her, but right now she was just glad to get out of class. Qrow, looking similarly relieved, got out of his chair. Quietly, the two of them walked out of the classroom.

On their way out, Qrow flashed a glance behind him. At first, Summer thought he was glaring at his sister, but then she realized he was looking again at Violet Fortune’s picture, which was still being displayed on the board.

_I wonder why he seems so fascinated by that picture._

* * *

 “So, uh…” Qrow said as they walked down the hall. “…Sorry ‘bout that back there.”

“You’re apologizing? For what?”

Qrow sighed. “What Sis said. I think you, at least, can understand she wasn’t tryin’ to rude or whatever. She just…that’s just how she is. I don’t think the others got that feeling, though.”

“…Yeah.” Summer nodded. She was sure Raven hadn’t meant any offense towards Faunus or Professor Oobleck. If anything, what she’d said wasn’t exactly wrong, even if it was a bit harsh.

Summer had always admired people who were honest and open with how they felt about something-even if wasn’t what everyone else wanted to hear. It was the sort of thing she’d always had trouble doing.

“Lot of the time, I have to put her in check-make sure she doesn’t say anything too stupid,” Qrow continued, as if talking to himself. “As you can tell, sometimes that’s just not possible. Sis is just the kinda person who always has to say _exactly_ what’s on her mind.”

”…Like you?” Summer couldn’t help herself.

“Wha? I-oh. Right.” Qrow paused awkwardly, remembering the locker room incident. He scowled. “I-I hope you’re not expecting an apology for that. You of all people should’ve known that I was right.”

Summer felt irritation rising up inside her, but she forced it down. She nodded. “Yeah...and really, you don’t need to apologize. I think that kind of blunt honesty is admirable. Still,” she frowned at him, trying to look stern, “I think you should turn in down just a bit. Just a suggestion.”

Qrow smirked. “I’ll try, pal-but no promises. That’s just how I’ve always been. Old habits die hard, y’know?”

“Yeah. Oh, that’s right!” Summer remembered something. “Back in the forest, you said you and Raven didn’t come from Atlas after all, right?”

“Uhh, no, actually.” Qrow looked strangely tense. “I said it was “more complicated” than that. We came from a small village outside of the main Atlas-in the area that was once part of Mantle. After our…uh…when we were, uh, I think it was when we were about ten, our old man picked us up and we moved to Vale.” He shrugged. “Well, now that I say it out loud, I guess it’s not so complicated after all.”

“…I see.” Summer said. She did remember hearing about a much larger Kingdom that had existed where Atlas stood now. “A small village, huh? I thought most of those places get torn down by Grimm within a few months.”

“You’re one to talk. Didn’t you grow up in a small village, too?”

“Technically, I grew up in a boarding school, but yeah, the village where I was born just happened to be built in a part of Vale without much Grimm activity. But aren’t the Great Plains around Atlas extremely cold and windy? I’ve even heard of rare and powerful Grimm that roam those areas.”

“Hey, I never said it was easy there.” Qrow reminded her, looking more relaxed now. “Remember, the old man hated the place enough that we all got the hell outta there the moment we had enough to get by.” He frowned at her. “Y’know, you’re more talkative than I thought you’d be. Aren’t you supposed to be, like, the “shrinking violet” type?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Summer huffed. “Are you saying there’s something wrong with talking to a friend?”

“F-friend? Hey, look, I get that we’re partners, but I never said I was…” Qrow, looking rather flustered, stopped in place. “Oh, hey, look at that. Guess we’re here.”

“Huh?” Summer realized he was right. In the heat of the conversation, she’d stopped paying attention to her surroundings.

They’d reached the office of Professor Ozpin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing I really regret was deciding that humans and Faunus in Remnant made contact way, way later in their history than what probably made sense. I don't really know what I was thinking back then, but you'll find that I kinda just ignore that later on.


	9. Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer and Qrow hear an important request from Professor Ozpin and show off their teamwork (or lack thereof) in combat training class.

**Chapter 9: Practice**

“Greetings, Miss Rose, Mr Branwen,” Ozpin smiled warmly as the two of them walked in. “I apologize if I disturbed your class.”

“Eh. I was just glad to get outta there,” Qrow replied bluntly. “So, Professor Oz, is this about-“

Ozpin nodded. “Yes, it is. The information you provided was most helpful. I would like to discuss the matter with you-and Miss Rose.” He smiled at Summer. As always, there was a strange intensity in his eyes when he looked at her. “I think it is right that you hear about it, as well.”

Summer frowned. “Um, thank you sir. But…why me? If this is about what Qrow saw in the forest, isn’t he enough?”

“Well, you are the leader of his team and Mr Branwen’s partner, so it is only natural. Now,” he turned his attention back to Qrow. “First, we were able to trace the symbol on the perpetrator’s robe. It belongs to a small crime syndicate that has been causing chaos in Atlas over the past month. They originally gave no name, but now certain sources believe they refer to themselves as the “Revenants”.

“…Never heard of it.” Qrow said.

“It can’t be helped-they _are_ rather small. In fact, even I know very little about them. They seem to have only been formed recently, and their movements are sporadic and disorganized-but very destructive. And the lack of knowledge on their members makes them even more dangerous.” Ozpin was speaking very calmly, yet Summer noticed his hands were clenched tightly, as if he was agitated. “The only thing known for certain about them is that their targets tend to be Faunus. Most likely, their motive is little more than petty discrimination.”

“That’s horrible…” Summer murmured. Having just heard a lecture about the Faunus War, hearing about this recent cruelty towards Faunus was even more poignant. Faunus discrimination really hadn’t died with the war.

“Alright…” Qrow pondered for a second, then continued: “What about the names that guy mentioned? Buck and the Grandmaster?”

For a second, Summer was sure she saw hesitation-or even a hint of fear-in the headmaster’s face, but it vanished quickly. “I’m afraid we have yet to find concrete leads on either of them,” Ozpin replied, calm as ever. “When we can be certain, we let you know.”

_We? He must be talking about him and Professor Goodwitch._

Summer suddenly wondered why Ozpin was telling them this. This didn’t really seem like the sort of thing a headmaster would confide in two first-year students.

“Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m telling you this for,” Ozpin went on, as if he’d read her mind. His gaze turned serious. “I suppose you might say…that I’m giving you two your first assignment as Huntsmen.”

_Huh?_ Summer stared at him in confusion. _Like, a formal assignment? From the headmaster of Beacon himself? Already?_ Qrow also looked confounded.

Ozpin smiled at their surprise. “Perhaps it would be best if I explained myself in greater detail. I would like the two of you to investigate this syndicate and their activities. Of course, you won’t be doing anything particularly reckless-I simply want you to monitor suspicious activity in the area and report any possible involvement of the syndicate. With so little information on them, any intelligence would be of help.”

Qrow scratched his head. “But didn’t you just say this…syndicate causes their crap all the way in Atlas? The heck are we supposed to do about that?”

Ozpin pressed a button underneath his desk, and a hologram appeared over it, depicting a department store in Vale-one that Summer had visited once on a field trip. On the wall was a crudely-painted symbol.

It was, without question, the insignia of the Revenants.

“This symbol appeared on the wall of the Low-Go Department Store yesterday. At the moment, there is no indication of whether it is a warning of imminent activity from the syndicate, but I believe it is best to be certain.” Ozpin adjusted his glasses. “I think investigating this situation is well within your capabilities, no?”

Summer nodded timidly. “Yeah, it sounds fine.” _It really doesn’t sound that crazy. I think I can do that-and hey, if it gets me on good terms with the headmaster, I’m up for it._

Qrow still looked skeptical. “Okay, sure. So, uh, does anyone else know about this ‘syndicate’?”

Ozpin smiled. “No one other than Glynda and I, and a couple of my other close associates. And now, of course, you two. I do not wish to stir up panic among the people-it would only attract the Grimm. I have chosen you two because I believe I can trust you despite your current lack of experience-and as thanks for your aid in the Emerald Forest incident.” His look turned serious again. “Of course…whether you accept is up to you.”

“Okay. I’m up for it.” Qrow answered immediately. “If it means I might run into that bastard with the mask again, I’m game. I _really_ need to pay him back for kicking my ass in the forest.”

“Excellent.” Ozpin turned his sharp gaze to Summer. “And you, Miss Rose?”

“…I’ll do it.” Summer stirred up her resolve. “If the syndicate is really out there, hurting people…then as a Huntress, I can’t just ignore them.”

The headmaster nodded approvingly. “Well said, both of you. Of course, I am not expecting you to get results immediately-please, take your time with the matter. In the meantime, I believe you should get to class-I believe Glynda’s combat training is up next.”

“Ah!” Summer looked at the clock. Ozpin was right. _Have we really been away for that long?_

“Ok then.” Qrow opened his mouth like he was about to say more, but closed it, shaking his head. “Alright, let’s go. We’ll get the info you need soon, Professor.”

With that, they left the room.

* * *

 Alone, Ozpin pondered whether he had done the right thing.

He had made mistakes this way before. Entrusting information and power to the wrong people. It always ended in death and suffering. Every time.

But now, things could be different.

In all honesty, Ozpin had barely noticed the young man-Mr Branwen-throughout their conversation. The only thing that had mattered to him was the girl with the silver eyes.

He still had his doubts-but he believed with all his heart that she was the right choice.

_She still doesn’t know…what makes her so special._

_Sometimes….I hope that she never finds out._

* * *

 Out of breath, Summer and Qrow burst through the doors to the Combat Training classroom. Between running back to History to grab their belongings, and then rushing to the locker rooms to change into their combat outfits, they’d arrived five minutes late.

On the stage, Raven dealt a swift, deadly blow to Regal Swanwing of Team HTHR, sending the young man crashing to the ground. His partner Torrence lay unconscious next to him.

“And that’s the match!” Professor Goodwitch declared. “Well done, Miss Branwen and Mr. Xiao Long.”

“Alright! We rule!” Tai pumped his fists in the air with a big grin.

“Heh, not bad,” said Regal, smiling painfully. He was a handsome albino wearing a fancy tuxedo. He placed his feather-shaped combat knives back in his belt pouch. “Heather wasn’t kidding about you guys-you’re pretty good.”

“Your praise is appreciated,” replied Raven, sheathing her katana. “You two aren’t so bad either. Your teamwork in particular is excellent.”

“Haha, glad to hear it.” Regal stretched out his arms and began walking off the stage. Torrence, getting up with a grunt, nodded at Raven and Tai before following him.

”Ah, there you are.” Goodwitch had noticed Summer and Qrow’s arrival. “You two, you’re late. As punishment, you will participate in the next match.”

_Huh?_ Summer’s heart sank.

“Oh, c’mon!” Qrow protested. “The headmaster had to talk to us! It wasn’t our fault!”

“That is not my concern.” The young professor responded bluntly. “Punctuality is an important part of being a Huntsman. Now,” without waiting for a response, she turned to the other students. “Who else would like to participate?”

There was a brief silence, and someone raised their hand. “I-I’d like to try,” said Harriet timidly.

“Excellent, Miss Maroon. You and Miss Fox, please get ready for battle.” Glynda turned back to Qrow and Summer. “You two as well.”

“Alright.” Summer nodded. Her heart was pounding, but she couldn’t deny that she felt excited. She was looking forward to testing her skills against Harriet and Heather.

“Don’t hold me back, alright?” Qrow growled, readying his weapon.

“Don’t worry about me.” Summer made the bravest smile she could. The two of them got up on the stage.

“Good luck, Summer! You too, Birdy!” Tai called up at them.

“Holy crap, for the love of Balder, will you stop calling me that?!” Qrow yelled back.

Raven said nothing, merely observing the upcoming battle with a curious, analytical gaze.

Harriet and Heather joined them a minute later.

“I’m looking forward to this,” Heather smiled, adjusting her glasses. “Make it interesting for me, will you?”

“Heather unsheathed her gauntlets. “D-don’t hold back…I’m strong, too!”

“Is everyone ready?” Goodwitch asked, monitoring their Aura on her Scroll. The four of them nodded. ‘Very well. Let the match begin!”

At once, Heather and Harriet charged. Heather began firing bullets with frightening precision at Summer, who dodged as fast as she could. _She’s probably the stronger of the two…I should focus on Harriet!_

Quickly, she loaded an arrow into her bow and fired it at Harriet, who sliced it into pieces with her claws. With her rabbit-like speed, she dashed at Summer, landing a direct hit on her.

“Agh!” Summer gasped, feeling her Aura dropping. _Okay, I was wrong! That’s what I get for underestimating her, I guess!_ She retaliated by pulling out an arrow and thrust it at the Faunus girl.

However, it merely phased through her. _Huh?_

“Hrahh!” Harriet kicked her with surprising force, sending her flying across the stage. Cursing, Summer got back to her feet. _Was that her Semblance? Some kind of intangibility?_

She risked a glance at Qrow. He was blocking Heather’s bullets with his large sword, occasionally throwing out a counterattack.

_This seems like a good mashup. I think he can take care of her. Meanwhile-_

“Don’t forget…about me!” Harriet sent her flying with a strong slash attack. Before Summer could recover, she jumped up and began swiping at her furiously.

Pain shot through Summer’s body like sharp needles. She caught a glimpse of Harriet’s face. There was no trace of the shy girl she was used to-her visage was clenched in concentration, and there was a fire in her eyes now, showing her determination to fight. Summer hadn’t expected she’d ever feel afraid of someone as unassuming as Harriet, but that was what she was feeling right now.

“Hiyah!” Harriet completed her combo attack with a swift karate chop that sent her crashing head-first onto the stage. _Dammit!_ Already, her Aura was getting dangerously low.

Recovering, Summer gritted her teeth. _She really_ is _strong…but I don’t feel like losing to her, either!_

“What’d I say about not holding me back?” Qrow growled at her. He’d actually managed to land a solid hit on Heather, who was now getting back up.

“Don’t worry about me!” Summer yelled. “I can take her!” She inserted earth Dust into her arrow and began sparring with Harriet.

_One. Two. Three. Four._ The two of them began meeting each other blow for blow. Summer focused all her might onto meeting Harriet’s attacks. Unfortunately, she was just too fast. A well-placed blow from her claws shattered the reinforced arrow.

“Tch!” Dodging a blow, Summer leaped back and launched a flurry of arrows at her opponent. Harriet weaved her way around them.

Before Summer could reload, Harriet loaded an Aura Capsule into her gauntlet. The weapon began to glow with golden energy. Yelling, she leapt straight at Summer with a full-power strike.

_I won’t be able to take this one!_ Out of options, Summer raised her hands, hoping her Aura could defend her from the incoming attack.

_Wham._ It didn’t work.

A loud buzzing sound resonated through the room as Harriet’s strike made contact, knocking her to the ground, signifying that Summer’s Aura had dropped beneath acceptable levels. She was out.

“So this is you ‘taking her’, huh?” Qrow grumbled, still defending himself against Heather’s assault. “Told you so.”

Summer couldn’t bring herself to retort. He was right, after all-she was too weak. First Jin, and now she’d lost to Harriet as well. _Fighting other Huntsmen is on a whole other level than fighting Grimm…_

Now, Qrow had to contend with both Heather and Harriet, who were fighting together in perfect synchronization. Snarling and cursing, he transformed his weapon into its scythe form to cover more range, defending himself from both girls at the same time.

Despite putting up the best fight he could, Qrow simply couldn’t handle a 2-on-1 battle, and before long, he was taken out as well.

_Bzzt._ “And that’s the match! Well done, Miss Maroon and Miss Fox.” Glynda announced, walking onto the stage.

“T-thank you, Professor!” Harriet stammered, returning to her timid persona. She turned to Summer awkwardly. “A-and, umm, thank you for the battle. You were pretty good!”

“Urgh…thanks…” Summer picked herself up, groaning in pain.

“Miss Rose, Mr Branwen, you two need to work on your teamwork,” Glynda said with a stern frown. “I sensed no coordination whatsoever in your combat strategy. If you have any wish to win the Vytal Festival Tournament, you must learn to work together.”

She turned to the students gathered there. “That’s enough for today. Classes are over. You may all return to your dorms.” With that, she turned and walked backstage.

Heather bowed to Qrow and Summer. “Don’t let her words get you down. I think you two have great potential. I hope to spar with you again!” She smiled encouragingly at Summer, and walked off with Harriet.

Soon, Team STRQ were the only ones in the room.

“So, uh…” Tai said, trying to break the silence. “I mean, I don’t think you did that bad.”

“Shut up.” Qrow snarled, retracting his blade. “How’d you do, anyway?”

“Oh, we were awesome!” Tai broke into a grin. “I beat the crap outta that Torrence guy, but he was actually really tough with that big switch-axe of his! Regal wasn’t so bad either, but man, you should have seen Raven! She was amazing! She didn’t even give those guys a chance! We were, like, the greatest p…oh.” He stopped, his eyes widening in panic. “Oh. Crap. Um…sorry.”

Qrow spat at the floor. “No. No, it’s totally fine.” He glared at Summer. “What the hell was that? I thought you’d at least be stronger than that! You almost died back in the forest, then you nearly got your ass kicked by that cocky wimp, and now you’re embarrassing me in front of Sis- _again!_ ”

Summer couldn’t take it anymore. “Well, excuse me for not being a super-talented genius like your sister!” She yelled at him. “I’m just doing my best!”

“Yeah?” Qrow hissed. “Well guess what? It’s not enough.” He turned and stomped out of the classroom. “I’ll go on ahead. Don’t disturb me for at least two hours.”

“…So, uh…” Tai looked even more uncomfortable. “That didn’t go well.”

Raven, meanwhile, had been silent. Finally, she spoke: “It looks like Brother’s been giving you trouble.”

“You think?” Summer muttered bitterly.

Raven smiled. “Don’t let him bother you. It’s true that you still have a long way to go, Summer. But like Heather, I think you’ve got a lot of potential.”

“…Really?” Summer looked up. She hadn’t expected strict, aloof Raven to take her side on the matter.

“Well, the first I saw of you, you were standing up for a helpless young girl, without a moment’s hesitation. To be honest, it was something I was unfamiliar with at the time, and so, I began to take an interest in you.” Raven put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You have a good heart. I think that is one aspect in which you surpass me.”

“I…” Stupidly, Summer felt like crying. _No, idiot. Don’t make such a big deal out of this. It was just a match!_

“Yeah!” Tai chimed in, flashing her a grin. “Don’t worry about Birdy, believe in yourself! He’s just butthurt that he’ll never be as awesome as you!”

“…Thanks guys.” Summer couldn’t help but smile. “I feel better now.”

“Great!” Without her permission, Tai grabbed her hand. Summer yelped, blushing for some reason. “Come on now, let’s get back to the dorm. Hope Birdy doesn’t throw a temper tantrum and blow up the place!”

“Yes.” Raven nodded. “Let’s go.”

Thankfully, Qrow had not destroyed the room. He was, however, lying on his bed, and wouldn’t respond to anyone, and wouldn’t even get up to do his homework or eat dinner. In the end, Summer, Tai and Raven just left him alone.

After dinner, everyone went to bed. Soon, it was in the middle of the night. The four of them were fast asleep. At least, that was how it seemed.

* * *

 “Hey, wake up.”

“Hrmmmm?” Summer was aroused from her slumber.

“I said, wake up!” Qrow growled, flinging her bedsheets off her.

“Ack!” she yelped. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced blearily at her partner, who was standing above her in full combat outfit with his usual scowl.

“You really did forget. Remember Oz’ mission? To investigate the syndicate? Well, we’re doing it tonight.”

“Whaaa….” Summer was still half-asleep. “But he said…to take our time…”

“Like I give a damn! C’mon, let’s go! I know for a fact that something’s gonna happen tonight?”

“Huh?” Summer was now fully awake. “What do you mean?”

Qrow smirked. “While the three of you went to the cafeteria for dinner, I snuck out. Turned into a bird, and did a lil’ investigating on my own. And guess what I found out? Turns out there’s some kinda secret meeting between some Faunus chumps at the department store tonight. They’re discussing some sorta…land treaty or whatever that’s being signed, I don’t care. Point is, they’re Faunus. And you know who the syndicate is supposed to be targeting, right?”

“Faunus…” Summer muttered. It did make sense. She sighed. “Okay, fine. I’ll get changed. But…why aren’t you going by yourself?”

“What does that mean?” Qrow looked confused.

“I mean, just today you were ranting about how weak and useless I was, so why bother waking me up? Why not take care of it yourself if you think I’m so useless?  You could even get your sis to help instead.”

“Umm…” Qrow was at a loss for words. “D-don’t overthink it! Oz _did_ ask for the two of us specifically, so, uh…” He shook his head. “Agh! Forget it! C’mon, let’s go, or we’ll wake up the others!” He ducked out of the room quickly to avoid seeing her changing.

Silently, Summer changed into her combat clothes and put on her white cloak. Making sure she’d brought enough arrows for her bow, she followed Qrow out of the room.

It was time for her first mission.


	10. Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer and Qrow gear up for their first real mission, but the obstacle they're about to face might be far more than what they can handle.

**Chapter 9: Enemy**

Stepping out of the school building, Qrow looked around stealthily. _Doesn’t look like anyone’s nearby. That’s good._ He glanced behind him “Hurry up,” he whispered.

Summer’s steps echoed in the distance. A few seconds later, she was out the door as well. She frowned at him. “Lockpicking skills? Really?”

Qrow shrugged. “Hey, I’m good at it. Now are we gonna do this or not?”

“Yeah, alright.” Summer nodded reluctantly. “The Low-Go Department Store, right?”

“Yep, that’s the one. Just don’t do anything stupid, alright?”

Summer scowled. “Don’t worry about me!”

“That’s what you said earlier today, and didn’t you lose like a chump?” Qrow asked with a snort.

“That’s beside the point!” Summer snapped. “Why do you always have to such a jerk abou-“

Suddenly, Qrow heard a movement in the trees. He felt a chill run down his spine. _Someone’s here._ “Quiet!” He hissed to her. “I think someone’s nearby, be ready to fight!”

Summer’s eyes widened, and she nodded, readying her bow. Qrow pulled out his sword. The two of them stood there for a moment, glancing around.

“Stay on guard,” Qrow muttered. “They could show up at any moment. I can’t tell who it is, but we may have to fight our way out!”

“Actually, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Someone spoke from right next to him.

_Oh shit!_ Instinctively, he turned swiftly towards the source of the voice, preparing to strike-

-and was promptly disarmed. His greatsword landed with a _clang_ several metres away.

“You still need to focus on your defense, it seems.” Raven smiled at him, as she sheathed her katana.

“S-s-SIS?” Qrow stammered.

“And that’s not all!” From behind the trees, Tai walked out with his typical smile. “Didn’t see that coming, eh?”

“Raven? Tai?” Summer looked at them in confusion. “W-what are you two doing?”

“C’mon, did you really think we’d let you two have fun all by yourself? Yeah, right!” Tai laughed. “You can’t lie to the Tai, baby!”

_You have got to be freaking kidding me._ “How …” Qrow muttered incredulously, “How did you know we were…”

“Don’t you know?” Tai bumped his chest with his fist. “Taiyang Xiao Long always finds out!”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Is that so? Because I recall you were sleeping like a rock until I shook you awake a few minutes ago.”

“Argh! Don’t ruin my moment, Rae, I just want to look cool…” Tai gave an exaggerated sigh.

_…Rae?_ Qrow glared at Tai. _He better not be trying to make a move on my sister._

“In truth, I simply sensed your agitation today, and became suspicious. So, I waited to see what you would do after we were asleep. What you sought to accomplish by sneaking out, I don’t actually know.” Raven admitted. “I’d like it if you informed the two of us.”

“…Alright.” Qrow sighed. There was no point fighting back; Raven and Tai had already inserted themselves firmly into the matter. And plus, changing Raven’s opinion once she’d made up her mind was like taking on ten Nevermores bare-naked. “Here’s the deal…”

He and Summer filled them in on Ozpin’s mission regarding the Revenants.

“Ozpin himself gave you a mission?” Tai’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right?”

“…It must be serious, then.” Raven looked intrigued. “If what you said is true, and something is really happening tonight, then we should go immediately.”

“Yeah.” Qrow grunted. “That was the plan.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Tai cracked his knuckles. “With the four of us together, nothing can stand in our way! Let’s go, team!”

* * *

 They’d arrived at the Low-Go Department Store. Sure enough, the Revenants’ symbol was painted on the wall. A few people were walking around at this time of night, not paying attention to the four students sneaking out past their bedtime.

“...I don’t see anything suspicious,” Tai frowned, scanning the area. “You sure these syndicate guys are going to show up?”

Qrow nodded. “They have to. It makes too much sense-and there’s definitely a Faunus meeting tonight in there. I _know_ I’m right.”

“…Whatever you say, Birdy,” Tai said, still skeptical.

“I told you, my name’s…oh, forget it.” Qrow sighed.

Raven frowned. “Brother is right, I can sense there are at least ten people gathered in close proximity in the building, among others. Presumably, those are the Faunus that will be discussing the land treaty.”

“Huh?” Summer asked, cocking her head to the side. “You can… _sense_ them?”

“Oh, Sis can do that,” Qrow replied. “She can sense when others are nearby, and can even tell when they’re distressed or in pain.”

“Oh. So that’s her Semblance?”

“…Yeah. Sure.” Qrow looked strangely hesitant.

A long silence followed. The four of them waited outside the department store, waiting for something-anything. It slowly dawned on them that they actually had no idea what they were expecting to happen.

“So, uh, shouldn’t we actually go in to check on the Faunus?” Tai suggested.

Raven shook her head. “No, I don’t want to risk us looking suspicious.” She turned to Qrow. “Are you _certain_ this syndicate will make their move tonight?”

Qrow scowled at his sister. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’m sure of it. Like, cross my heart and all that crap. Why don’t you have some faith in me for once, huh?”

“I’m only making sure,” Raven reassured him. “At any rate, if no one comes by in the next few minutes, I’m afraid we’ll have to-“

Suddenly, her body stiffened. Eyes widening, she stared straight ahead. Without a word, she darted towards the department store, drawing her sword.

“Sis?” Qrow yelled. “What the hell are you doing?”

“No time to explain!” She turned back for second, and disappeared into the building.

“W-what should we do?” Tai looked at Qrow and Summer uncertainly.

Qrow began to smile. “…Heh. Guess I was right. Looks like our culprit is here after all.”

“The syndicate is here?” Summer’s eyes widened. She grabbed her bow. “We need to follow her-“

“No!” Tai grabbed her hand. “It might be dangerous!”

“Yeah, Tai’s right,” Qrow nodded. “Don’t worry, Sis can handle anything.” Reluctantly, Summer put her weapon away.

Tense, the three of them waited. Suddenly, they heard yelling coming from within the store. A little girl ran out, crying.

A moment later, several middle-aged Faunus wearing business suits came rushing out. _Those must be the guys who were discussing the treaty!_

“Hey!” Qrow yelled at them. “What’s going on?”

One of them turned to him with a frightened gaze. “S-some crazy woman came rushing in and forced us out! She said there was a-“

Before he could finish, a thunderous tremor rang out, as the department store exploded. The force from the blast knocked everyone down to the ground.

“No! Raven!” Tai yelled.

“W-what happened?!” Summer screamed, scrambling to get up.

Horror welled up in Qrow’s chest. He’d hoped that his hunch would be correct, but he’d never expected this. He stared in shock at the wreckage of the building.

_They had a bomb!_

Summer was frozen in terror. She stared blankly at what had once been the Low-Go Department Store. She could only imagine how many people had still been in the building. She glanced at the three Faunus who were lying on the ground, out cold. The little girl was still sobbing.

With a sinking feeling, she remembered Raven saying that she’d sensed _ten_ Faunus in the store. She knew all too well what had just become of the other seven.

Some nearby civilians had seen the explosion. Screaming, they ran as fast as possible away from the scene.

“Raven!” Tai screamed, trying to run into the flaming wreckage, with Qrow holding him back. “Raven, are you alright?!”

“Don’t go in there!” Qrow growled. “You’ll just kill yourself-stupidly! Plus, Sis is fine, don’t worry!”

“Huh? Really?” Tai stopped and stared at him.

“Really.” Right on cue, a portal materialized next to them and Raven stepped out. “Come on, we need to take care of the culprit!”

“What about the other people who were still in the building?” Summer inquired.

Raven shook her head slowly. “I’m afraid I couldn’t save all of them. I had to get out of there before the explosion happened.”

“No…” Tai murmured. “That can’t be…”

“Well, Brother?” Raven turned to Qrow. “It seems you were right after all.”

“Yeah…” he muttered, still kneeling in shock. “Didn’t think it would happen like this. Sis, you saw who did this?”

“Not quite.” Raven raised her head to the sky and yelled: “There’s no use hiding! I think it’s about time you showed yourself!”

There was a moment’s silence. Then, a sinister laugh rang out in the night.

“Not bad…” A raspy voice came out from the shadows. A middle-aged man with graying brown hair stepped out from behind the nearby warehouse. “I’m surprised…I thought Faunus were the only ones who could sense others.”

The man grinned, showing off his horrifically large teeth. _This guy’s…a Faunus!_ Summer realized. _But…that doesn’t make any sense!_

“I assume you’re the one who did this?” Raven’s eyes narrowed.

“Bwa-ha-ha! Indeed!” The man laughed unpleasantly. “I could’ve just planted the explosive and hightailed it out of there…but I decided I’d stay back and admire my own handiwork. Haha…it looks like that wasn’t a good idea after all.”

The little girl who’d run out of the building was now staring, terrified, at the Faunus. She ran up to Summer and continued crying. Instinctively, Summer held her comfortingly.

Tai clenched his fists. His face was contorted in anger. “You… _bastard_ …I can’t believe you can stand there and say that! How many people did you just kill?”

The man shrugged. “I couldn’t care less. All that matters is that I eliminated my prey.” He scowled at the three Faunus who were sprawled out unconscious on the ground. “Kh. Most of them, anyway.”

Qrow drew his sword. “So that settles it. You’ve gotta be one of the Revenants!”

“But why?” Summer demanded, bewildered. “You’re a Faunus, too! Why would you kill your own kind?”

“Ahahaha! Big words, coming from a human!” The man laughed again. “If you really want an answer…it’s true that I despise your kind, but my species isn’t that much better! I owe them _quite_ a bit of pain for what they did to me. If it weren’t for their _meddling,_ I’d have my name in the history books by now! I, Buck London, the Butcher of Waterdown!”

“Buck? That’s one of the names that masked guy mentioned.” Snarling, Qrow transformed his weapon into a scythe. “Now I _really_ want to kick your ass!”

“Waterdown…” Raven murmured. “The village that was massacred during the Faunus War…I see. So that’s who you are.”

Summer also recognized the name. She’d heard stories about the Massacre of Waterdown Village. During the early days of the Faunus Revolution, a small camp of Faunus had taken over a village in Mistral. Low on weaponry, the humans there had surrendered almost immediately, and it was one of the few peaceful victories of the war.

The next day, every last human in the village was dead. They’d all been slaughtered overnight. None were spared, not the elderly nor the infants. Their deaths had apparently been so brutal that no official pictures of the incident had ever been released.

At first, it was believed the village had been overrun by Grimm, but it soon became clear that a Faunus had been responsible for the massacre. The Faunus camp had cleared out long before anyone could investigate the crime scene, and the perpetrator had never been caught.

“Oh, so you figured it out. I’m touched,” Buck said smugly. “Yes, my traitorous comrades decided to wipe all traces of me from the war records. As far as the world’s concerned, all those victories I fought for my people never existed!”

Raging, he drew his weapon-a high-tech machine gun with chainsaw blades decorating the exterior. “And that’s how…I got stuck working a low-end job with a company of _cowards,_ instead of being honoured as the hero who rid the world of over two hundred humans in a single night!”

With a whir, the chainsaw blades on his gun began their motions, making a sinister buzzing noise. “So yes…I’ve got a reason to want a few Faunus dead. Those fools would sign their meaningless treaties, believe that humans and Faunus could ever coexist in peace? **_NEVER!!!_** ”

With a shrill battle cry, Buck charged at the four Huntsmen.

Summer felt fear rising up in her as she held the crying girl. This was a mass murderer they were going up against. This was someone willing and experienced with cold-blooded slaughter. Did four kids even stand a chance?

“You won’t get away with this!” Tai met his strike. Barehanded, he blocked Buck’s chainsaw, his Aura protecting him from the blades’ deadly whir. The tattoos on his arms began to glow red.

“Hraahh!” The Fire Dust enhancing his strength and speed, Tai parried away the Faunus’ weapon and swung a flurry of fiery punches. Growling in pain, Buck aimed his machine gun and fired a load of bullets into Tai’s arms.

Tai winced as over twenty bullets painfully chewed away his Aura, bit by bit. “Damn it!” he growled, swinging another punch. However, this time Buck simply blocked it with his bare hand.

“What?” He gasped.

“Don’t let your guard down!” Qrow yelled, leaping over him while swinging at Buck. With surprising speed, his opponent dodged, jumping off his scythe and knocking Qrow down with a direct hit from his chainsaw.

“Argh!” Qrow yelled. Chuckling, Buck held him down and prepared for a lethal strike.

“Get away from him!” Tai leapt at Buck again. The Faunus simply swiped him aside. It should have been a weak punch, but it struck the young man square in the mouth, sending him flying straight into the nearby brick wall. “H-how…” Tai spat out a tooth. “How’s he how strong?!”

“Heheh…” Buck laughed. His eyes were wide with bloodlust. His hair was glowing, and had turned completely white. His fanged mouth hung open, drooling. “The more pain I inflict on others, the stronger I become,” he rasped. “That’s my Semblance!”

“What’s with him?” Summer stared at him. “Why does he look like that?”

“A side-effect of his Semblance,” Raven murmured. “Most of the more powerful Semblances have them. Some of them, like his, merely cause physical changes upon activation. Others grant additional abilities that can be mistaken as Semblances on their own.” She glanced at Summer. “Now, then, shall we help out the boys?”

Summer nodded nervously. “Yeah! Oh, right!” She gestured to the girl. She couldn’t have been older than five, and had short black hair and amber eyes. “What should we do about her?”

“Here.” Raven swung her sword, creating a portal. “Get in, little girl. When you get out, do not move, and you’ll be safe.” The girl just looked at her, motionless and terrified. “I _said_ , get in!”

“It’s okay,” Summer soothed her. “You can trust her. We’ll take care of this, promise.” After a moment, the girl nodded and walked in.

“Let’s see how you ladies like this!” Buck dashed towards them. He parried with Raven, sending sparks flying into the night sky. Summer desperately tried to aim for Buck while the two of them fought it out. _C’mon, let me get a clear shot!_

“Hrahh!” With his enhanced strength, Buck knocked Raven’s katana out of her hand and kicked her across the ground. Before she could recover, he moved his sights to Summer, and charged.

_Oh no!_ She fired her arrow. It struck him in the chest, taking off a respectable chunk of Aura, but he simply shrugged it off and struck the young Huntress in the stomach with his chainsaw.

A blinding sensation of pain sent Summer keeling to the ground, screaming. _He’s taking us all out like nothing!_

“Tch,” Buck grumbled, looking at his downed opponent. “Looks like R was just talking nonsense again. “The Grandmaster says to observe Summer Rose; she poses a great danger to our plan.” Hmph! I guess even they can be wrong, too.”

_Wait, what’s he saying? I’m…a danger to them? Me?_ None of this was making sense. Who was this ‘R’? And the ‘Grandmaster’?

Even so, she couldn’t give up. This was what she’d trained for, after all. To fight people like this, who put the peace of Remnant in peril. Agonizingly, she picked herself up. Qrow, Tai and Raven were recovering from their injuries as well.

“Oh? Still got some fight left in you?” Buck whirred his chainsaw nonchalantly. “Ah well, I suppose I’d better finish you off quick.”

“Guys!” Summer yelled. “Let’s coordinate our attacks this time! Fighting him one-on-one is suicide!”

“Don’t order me around!” Qrow readied his scythe. “You’re right, though. Now, don’t hold me back again!”

Tai and Raven nodded. “Even you can’t beat us four-on-one, old man!” Tai taunted.

Buck sighed. “Now this is just a waste of time. I think I’ll just end you all quickly.” With that, the battle continued.

Tai and Raven struck at him from both sides. Even with Buck’s enormous strength, he couldn’t defend himself from both of them. For every one of Tai’s punches he blocked, Raven landed three swift blows on him with her katana. Every time he parried Raven’s blade, Tai struck him in the back of his head with his fist. Slowly, they wore his down with their coordinated attacks.

_Incredible._ Summer couldn’t help but stare in awe. Their teamwork was already impeccable. All of their attacks were perfectly synchronized.

“Don’t stand there and gawk! It’s our turn!” Qrow yelled. Raising his weapon, he grinned at her. “Ready, partner?”

“Yeah!” Summer readied her bow. “Let’s do this!”

She fired a round of arrows in Buck’s direction. Seeing them approaching, he swiftly knocked Tai and Raven aside with a sweeping kick and leapt out of the projectiles’ range.

Without having to worry about hitting his teammates now, Qrow jumped straight at Buck and swung his scythe. Buck desperately bombarded the young man with bullets, but they were easily deflected by the enormous weapon. Qrow struck his opponent with a devastating swing that disarmed him and sent him flying.

“Dammit! I won’t lose to you…” Buck struggled to regain his footing. In that moment, Summer loaded an ice Dust-infused arrow into her bow and fired. The snow-white streak exploded where it impacted Buck’s ankle, creating a crystal of ice that froze his legs in place.

“Got you!” Summer yelled triumphantly. “Get him, Tai!”

“No problem!” Tai activated his Semblance, and began to glow with Aura. He swung a full-powered punch at Buck. “Eat this, you bastard!”

Without his chainsaw-gun, Buck had no way to defend himself anymore. He felt the full impact of Taiyang’s strike as his Aura was completely depleted. He was sent flying straight into the pavement, creating a respectably-sized crater. Immediately, his Semblance faded, and his hair returned to its normal graying brown.

“It appears that…we win.” Raven smiled.

“Damn right we did!” Tai whooped. He smirked at Buck, lying there on the ground. “You get stronger from other people’s suffering, but I get stronger when I’ve got my friends behind me? So what have you learned from this, huh? It’s that you’ll never win against the power of friendship, baby.”

Qrow sighed, retracting his weapon. “And just like that, any satisfaction I would’ve got from this battle is gone forever.”

Summer smiled. They’d actually done it. Cheesy as it was, what Tai had said wasn’t wrong; they really were stronger when working together.

“…Can’t be happening,” Buck moaned, struggling to get back up. “How…could I lose…to you…”

“You only have yourself to blame for that, Buck.”

Summer froze. _Who was that?_

Qrow’s eyes widened. “No way…that voice! It’s-“

Suddenly, from the docks, a large mechanism rose out of the water. It appeared to be some sort of aquatic version of an Atlesian aircraft. Summer had never seen anything like it before.

“What. The heck.” Tai muttered, staring in disbelief at it.

The door to the craft opened, and a single figure stepped out. A figure with long auburn hair, a black robe, and a white mask.

“ _You,”_ Qrow snarled.

“Good evening, everyone,” the mystery man said, their voice heavily distorted by the mask. “I really am sorry about my comrade’s irresponsibility.” They turned to Buck. “I’m sure I told you and Simon to wait for my order before making your attack.”  


“Sh-shut up,” Buck rasped pitifully. “The opportunity was…too good to resist.”

The masked man sighed. “I suppose I should have expected that. Well, it doesn’t matter now. I’d advise you to be careful, though; I don’t believe the Grandmaster will forgive you for another act of disobedience.”

“Who…are you?” Raven demanded. “You are also with the syndicate, aren’t you?”

“Ah, that’s right. I haven’t properly introduced myself.” The masked man bowed mockingly. “I suppose you can consider me to be the leader of the Revenants. You may call me ‘R’.”

“R? As in ‘Revenants’?”

“You might say that. Or perhaps it stands for ‘revolution’, or ‘revelation’, or ‘revenge’, or something else. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Summer stared at R. This was their enemy?

“Hey, enough talk,” Qrow growled, reaching for his weapon. “I still owe you for back in the forest, Mr. Mask, ‘R’, or whatever you call yourself.”

R shrugged. “Apologies, but I am afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer for that. I only came here to retrieve an unruly subordinate.”

From beside them, Buck had gotten up and retrieved his chainsaw-gun. Rather than attacking the group again, he leapt, snarling, into the craft next to R. “Don’t think this is over,” he rasped at them. “Next time, I’ll make you suffer.”

“As an apology for the headaches Buck has caused you tonight, I’ll let you in on a secret,” R said casually. “This craft is a special gift given to our cause by the Grandmaster.” They spoke that name with an almost reverent tone. “It can completely disguise its presence underwater. The Grimm that I used to control poor Mr. Huang in the Emerald Forest was also one of them.”

“I see,” Raven murmured. “So it _was_ a Grimm, after all.”

“The Grandmaster?” Summer asked. “We keep hearing that name, but who _is_ that?”

“Nothing you need concern yourself with-not that you could ever comprehend the Grandmaster’s brilliance,” R said coolly.

“Nnnngh…” Qrow was losing his patience. “You’re really pissing me off, you know? Wanna get down from that toy and fight me, coward?”

R glanced back at him. “Ah yes. Mr. Branwen. Really, your reckless behaviour is unsightly. And you wonder why we consider your dear sister to be more valuable to us.” From within their robe, they pulled out a strange-looking rifle. Its barrel glowed a sinister shade of red. “Of course, if you really have a death wish, I’ll accept your challenge.”

“Done.” Qrow leapt at R with his sword above his head, yelling.

“No, Brother!” Raven yelled. “That gun is-“

R chuckled. “Too late.” They fired.

The bullet pierced through Qrow’s chest, sending him flying back with a grunt of pain. He landed ungracefully on the ground, unconscious. He was bleeding.

“Qrow!” Summer yelled. She and Tai ran over to his side. After a few seconds, Tai sighed in relief. “It’s not lethal, thank god. He’ll recover.”

Raven narrowed her eyes. “I knew it. That weapon…has the ability to bypass Aura, doesn’t it?”

“You really are observant, Miss Branwen,” R said approvingly. “This, too, is one of the Grandmaster’s gifts.” They cocked their head to the side. “Shouldn’t you be by your brother’s side now, crying and begging for him not to die?”

“There is no need to worry about him,” Raven replied coolly. “He has much to learn, but he is stronger than you seem to believe.”

“Perhaps.” R turned to Summer. “My master has taken an interest in you, Miss Rose.”

“Me?” Summer looked up from Qrow’s unconscious body.

“Yes. I was asked to observe you, you know. I was disappointed with what I saw of you at first, but if you could take out Buck, perhaps there really is more to you after all.” R paused for a moment, then continued. “Ah, it seems the authorities are approaching. I suppose I’ll be taking my leave.”

Sure enough, there were sirens blaring in the distance.

The craft began to shake, as the door slowly closed.

“Wait!” Summer cried out. “Why is your master ‘interested’ in me?! Why are the Revenants recruiting Faunus? Who in the world _are_ you?!?”

“My, my! So many questions!” R laughed. “Do not worry, I’m sure you’ll have your answers in time. After all, I think we’ll be seeing each other again… _very_ soon.”

The door closed on the two of them. The craft lowered slowly into the ocean, and was gone.


	11. A Plan of Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their encounter with Buck and the mysterious 'R', Team STRQ attempt to figure out their next course of action. However, they're not the only ones making plans.

**Chapter 10: A Plan of Attack**

The police officer glanced quizzically at the three teenagers standing before him, and the one unconscious teenager being carried by his sister. Near the wreckage of the department store, the three surviving Faunus were being questioned by his subordinates.

“And what exactly were you all doing out this late at night?” he inquired.

“We were…j-just looking around!” Summer blurted out, stopping herself from saying, _We were on a top-secret mission from Professor Ozpin._ “L-look, we’re students of Beacon Academy! We’re Huntsmen!”

“Hmm, I see you’re all dressed in combat clothes…” the officer admitted. “But I’d like some confirmation, if you could.”

“Yeah, alright.” Summer reached into her pocket. “I’ve got it right…huh?”

Her wallet was gone. _D-did I drop it somewhere?_ Summer panicked. _No, that can’t be right! I had it with me when we first got here!_

“…Miss?” The officer was getting impatient.

“Pardon me. I’ll provide identification.” Raven pulled out a card from her coat pocket and handed it to him.” It showed her name, personal number, and the pictures of her and her teammates. The officer nodded. “Okay, that seems alright. You four check out, I guess. So did you see this incident take place?”

“We did not. We merely came running when we heard the explosion.” Raven’s lying abilities were frighteningly convincing. “We did, however, arrive in time to aid these three gentlemen out of the fire without significant harm, though my brother suffered minor injury in the process.” She nodded at Qrow, slumped over her shoulder.

“I see.” The man wrote in his notebook. “In that case, you all did a great service…”

“Hey, Summer,” Tai whispered to her. “What’s wrong? You lost your ID?”

“Y-yeah…” Summer nodded anxiously. “I have no idea where I dropped it, though…”

“Could it have been that girl? The one who ran out of the store before it blew up?”

“Huh? You think it was her?” Come to think of it, the girl had been close behind her for a few seconds, and Summer’s mind had been preoccupied with Buck at the time. _If it was stolen, I guess it could have been her._ “Maybe. I don’t know where Raven teleported her to, though.”

“I moved her inside the dumpster behind From Dust Till Dawn,” Raven replied casually.

“A _dumpster?”_ Tai snorted. “That was kind of a dick move, Rae.”

“It’s relatively safe, in there, though. Most likely.”

“Yeah, I’m not a fan of the ‘most likely’ part.”

“Okay, then, I’ll go get her.” Summer sighed. “Hopefully, she hasn’t already gone.”

* * *

Summer stepped out of Raven’s portal, finding herself behind the From Dust Till Dawn store. The experience hadn’t been as uncomfortable as she thought; it really was just like walking through an open door.

She walked over to the dumpster and opened the lid. Sure enough, the girl was still in there.

“Okay…two hundred, four hundred Lien…” she murmured, looking through Summer’s wallet. “Aww…it’s not as much as I thought, but I guess it’s okay...” She looked up, eyes widening in panic as she saw the young Huntress. “Ack! I-it’s you…”

“Yep,” Summer nodded sternly. “I’d appreciate it if you handed that over, miss.” She tried her best to sound strict.

“B-but…” The girl looked up at her with adorable puppy-dog eyes. “Please, lady, I, um…don’t have any money and I just wanna eat, and…”

_So she’s a kid from the streets, huh? Poor thing._ Summer sighed, trying to hold back her pity. “In that case, you didn’t need to steal it from me, you know. You could’ve asked me.”

“H-huh?” The girl looked surprised. “R-really?”

“Really. So little girl, what’s your name?” Summer inquired.

“Autumn.”

“Okay, Autumn, do you not have your parents with you?” Summer was pretty sure she knew the answer, but asked anyway.

Autumn shook her head. “Nope. I…don’t have any. Never did.”

“I see.” Summer glanced sadly at the girl’s tattered, messy clothes. _Even if I don’t remember much about my parents, at least I knew them…_ “So…what were you doing at the department store?”

“I-I…wanted to pickpocket some people for Lien. I…I’m not very good at it.” She sniffed. “When that scary lady ran in and started yelling a-about a criminal, I thought I’d been caught, so I ran out, and then…then…” She seemed on the verge of crying again. “So, umm…” she stared at Summer, terrified. “Are you gonna take your wallet back now…?”

“…That was the plan.” Summer sighed again. Despite her annoyance at being pickpocketed, she wasn’t cruel enough to ignore a little girl living alone on the streets like this. “…But, after hearing about your situation, I guess you can keep some of the cash. I don’t have much to be honest, though.”

“Really!?” Autumn’s eyes widened. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” She began bowing down to her in a comical, childish way. Summer couldn’t help but smile, a warm feeling seeping through her body from seeing the girl so happy.

“Alright, now how about I get you out of that smelly thing.” Summer picked up Autumn and lifted her out of the dumpster, placing her on the ground. She handed her a two-hundred Lien bill. “Here you go…Autumn. Get yourself something to eat, alright?”

“Yes! I will!” Autumn nodded enthusiastically. Suddenly her eyes widened. “Oh yeah! Did you beat that bad person?”

Summer smiled. “We sure did. It’s part of our job, after all.”

“Job?” Autumn turned her head quizzically.

“Yep. Me and my friends, we’re Huntsmen-well, we’re training to become them. Helping others and stopping criminals is what we do!” With a sudden burst of confidence, Summer pulled out her bow and aimed it dramatically into the night sky. “We’re also the best fighters in all of Remnant!” _Well, most of us are, ahaha…_

“Wh-whoa! You’re…so cool…!” Autumn gawked at her like she was the latest Grimm-VS-Hunters action figure. “I wanna be able to fight like that, too!”

Summer laughed. She was rather uncomfortable around children, since she’d often get bullied by her peers when she was little, but this young girl was different, somehow. Plus, Autumn’s genuine awe of her was admittedly rather flattering.

“Maybe you will, one day,” she said gently. “I have to go now, Autumn. Are you going to be alright?”

Autumn nodded. “Yeah! I have a super-secret hideout in the city where no one ever finds me! I…I hope I see you again…miss…um-”

“It’s Summer. Summer Rose.”

“Oh, okay! See you again, Mrs. Rose!” With that, Autumn ran off into the night.

_Will she be alright?_ Summer wondered anxiously, watching her go. _There’s not much I can do about it really...and if she’s lived on the streets all her life she must know what she’s doing…_

Summer sighed. At any rate, she’d gotten her wallet back. Still, she felt she wouldn’t mind seeing Autumn again.

_I need to get back to Beacon. The others are probably heading back now, and I guess I’ll need to report to Ozpin…_

Summer frowned as she began to walk in direction of her school. The events of tonight were still bothering her-particularly one statement by the masked man, the one who called themselves ‘R’.

_My master has taken in interest in you, Miss Rose._

What did that mean? Who was this person Buck and R called the ‘Grandmaster’? Why did they seem interested in her, in particular? She wasn’t anything special, she was just an ordinary student at Beacon!

Summer shook her head, trying to block out those thoughts. It wouldn’t do any good to speculate on things she still knew so little about. Right now, all that mattered was getting back before anyone else saw her.

* * *

It was lunchtime the following day.

The cafeteria was packed with students eating and talking at the top of their lungs. Summer honestly found it rather disruptive.

“It’s really terrible what happened downtown last night,” Heather murmured, glancing through the news on her Scroll. “To think the department store would be the target of a terrorist attack…it’s terrifying to think about.”

“And it was one of my favourites, too,” Regal grumbled, pointing to his tux. “See this beauty? I bought it there.”

Harriet nodded fearfully. “And since I’m a Faunus, I-I could hear the explosion even in bed. It woke me up. I don’t know who would be so…so evil to…to kill all those people.” She glanced over at Team STRQ, sitting on the opposite side of the table. “Did you guys hear it too?”

Tai shook his head, swallowing a mouthful of soup. “Nope. It’s crazy to think about, though.”

“I do hope the perpetrator is arrested soon,” Raven added. “Though I don’t think the police have any idea who’s behind it and where they are.”

“Well, at any rate, all we can do is pray that this incident gets resolved,” Heather sighed. She frowned at Raven. “Where’s your brother today, anyway? He wasn’t at Grimm Studies class.”

“He caught a fever last night,” Raven said unflinchingly. “He’ll most likely be in bed for a couple of days, but it isn’t anything serious.”

“Well that’s good.” Heather went back to her sandwich.

“Heeeey, you’ve been really quiet today,” Regal grinned at Summer, showing off his perfect white teeth. “C’mon, say something, you’re starting to remind me of Tory.” He nudged Torrence affectionately, who was quiet as always, eating fish casserole without comment.

“Hmm? Oh, sorry. Just thinking about…uh, school stuff,” Summer muttered, snapping back to reality.

After they’d met up back at Beacon, they’d rushed Qrow to the school infirmary. They’d expected the nurse to have many questions, especially why they were up so late, but surprisingly she’d simply nodded and put the injured student in bed. Summer suspected Ozpin had something to do with that.

_So now, what do we do?_ She wondered. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get last night’s incident out of her head. She wanted to do something-anything-about it, but she wasn’t sure how to proceed.

She’d thought that it would be best to wait for further instructions from Ozpin, but that didn’t satisfy her. She felt ready for action-she wanted to continue investigating the syndicate, Buck and R, and whoever the ‘Grandmaster’ was.

Summer glanced around the cafeteria. Heather was helping Harriet with History homework. Regal and Torrence were still eating. Tai was trying out lame pick-up lines on Raven, who was trying her best to keep a straight face. Over on a nearby table, Jin Shi-Huang and his teammates were making fun of random students.

It was a perfectly ordinary school day. Yet Summer couldn’t help but feel that whatever they had gotten themselves into was anything but ordinary.

“Personally, I can’t wait for the Vytal Festival Tournament,” Regal said cheerfully, stabbing at a sausage on his plate. “Team HTHR’s participating, obviously, and with Miss Champion over here and I, we’ve pretty much got this in the bag!”

“Oh?” Tai grinned. “Aren’t you forgetting about someone? Maybe the coolest team in all of Beacon?”

“Funny, because I’m pretty sure I just mentioned them,” Regal replied with a smirk.

Summer breathed a sigh of relief. Something normal to think about. The Vytal Festival-a huge celebration commemorating the end of the Great War over sixty years ago. It was held every two years, with one of the four Kingdoms playing host. This year, the host would be the Kingdom of Atlas.

The main event of the Festival was a large-scale tournament, in which students from all four Huntsmen Academies fought to claim the grand prize for their Kingdom. Every tournament always brought with it heart-pounding action and charming personalities that made each one unique.

Summer realized she’d probably be participating in the tournament this year. Mere weeks ago, she’d feel terrified at the idea. She still was, in a way, but now she felt confident enough to face such a grand challenge-after all, now she had her friends with her.

“At any rate, it wouldn’t do for Beacon to lose, especially this year,” Heather noted with a frown. “Considering that Ozpin himself will be observing.”

“Whoa, seriously?” Tai raised his eyebrows. “But headmasters don’t usually visit the other Kingdoms for the festival.”

Summer was also intrigued. This was indeed a rare occurrence. _Does this have something to do with the Revenants problem?_

“That’s true,” Heather admitted, “but maybe he’s making a special case this time. Ozpin _has_ known the headmaster of Atlas for a long time. I only heard about it from my father.”

“Your dad?”

“Yes, he’s rather well-known in Atlas. I never saw him much growing up, since I was raised in Vacuo by my mother. He does communicate with us from time to time, however. There was one time…”

The rest of the conversation was lost on Summer. Once again, all she could think about was the conflict she seemed to have been dragged into. First, there had been the attacks by the Revenants in Atlas, and then Vale. And now, Ozpin was going to visit Atlas for the Vytal Festival.

_It could just be a coincidence,_ Summer thought desperately. But she doubted it.

Turning to Raven, she saw that the long-haired Huntress was staring at her intently. She nodded as she met Summer’s gaze. _She must have the same idea, too._

“I think we’re done here,” Raven announced, getting up from the table. “We still have time before Science class, so I think we’ll play Brother a visit. ‘Get well soon’ and all that.” She gave Tai a significant look. “Isn’t that right, team?”

“Wha-? But I’m not done my crepe…oh. Right.” Tai sighed dejectedly. “Yeah, ok, let’s go.” He and Summer got up and prepared to leave with Raven.

“See you in class!” Heather called after them.

“I hope Qrow’s not hurt too bad!” Harriet added. “Tell him to get better soon!”

“We will,” Summer smiled, touched by her concern. “See you!”

With that, Team STRQ left the cafeteria, leaving Tai’s apple crepe lying lonely and half-eaten on his plate.

* * *

“Goddammit, this is embarrassing,” Qrow moaned, massaging his bandaged chest.

“Hey, hey, don’t be a wimp,” Tai grinned at him. “Are you really going to let a little wound like that get you down, Birdy?”

Qrow sighed. “It’s not serious, but it still hurts like hell.” He seemed to have accepted his nickname. “I guess this makes us even, huh?” he said to Summer, glumly.

“Hmm? Even for what?” she replied.

“I told you not to do anything stupid and that you were a weak little brat, but in the end _I_ was the one who screwed up and got hurt.” He glanced at his wound. “I could tell…that masked man-R-he shot me in a non-lethal spot on purpose. To teach us a lesson. If he wanted to kill me, he would have.”

He looked up at Summer. “You did good,” he said grudgingly, “Sorry if I underestimated you.”

Summer raised her eyebrows. Despite everything, she couldn’t help but be amused. “What, you’re finally apologizing to me?” she smiled at him. “Maybe you’re not such a jerk after all.”

“W-what’s that supposed to mean?!” Qrow spluttered.

“Come to think of it, it _is_ pretty weird,” Tai smirked. “Okay dude, who are you, and what have you done to Qrow Branwen?”

Qrow glared at them, his face red. “Ugh…out of everyone I’ve ever met, I think I hate you all the most.”

Raven, meanwhile, was eerily quiet. She was standing by her brother’s bedside, lost in thought.

“Hello?” Tai inquired. “Earth to Rae.”

“Er-ah, yes.” Raven looked focused again. “Apologies, I was just thinking about…something. At any rate, shall we begin the meeting?”

“Meeting?” Tai looked confused. “Didn’t we come here to check on Qrow?”

Summer, Raven and Qrow all stared at him in disbelief.

“You…really didn’t realize?” For the first time, Raven looked genuinely baffled.

“You’re…kidding me, right?” Qrow grumbled.

“W-w-what?”

Summer sighed. “Tai, we came here to discuss what happened last night. About the syndicate, and what we’re going to do now.”  
  


“Oh, right!” Tai laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, I knew that, I was just testing you, haha…”

“At any rate, there are several things to think about regarding this incident,” Raven started. “It seems the syndicate isn’t quite what we thought it was.”

Summer nodded. “They’re supposed to be targeting Faunus, but they have a Faunus in their ranks. They wouldn’t do that if their motive was just discrimination like we first thought.”

“Exactly.” Raven smiled approvingly at her. “Well, at least we know more about their members.” She took out a notepad and set it on the bedside table. “Tai?”

“Ah, got it.” Tai pulled out a pen from his pocket and began drawing. “Ok, so they’ve got Buck London, a serial killer slash war veteran…” he said while drawing the middle-aged Faunus and his chainsaw-gun. “The boss of the gang seems to be that masked guy, who called himself ‘R’…” he drew the mysterious figure next to Buck. “And _he_ seems to taking orders from someone he calls the ‘Grandmaster’. No idea who that is, but they’ve got their hands on some crazy technology. _And_ R mentioned someone named Simon. Probably another underling of the syndicate.” He drew two question marks on the paper.

_His drawing skills are really good,_ Summer noted. “And that’s all we have?”

“Guess so,” Tai sighed, shrugging. “Personally, I think we should find out who R and this ‘Grandmaster’ really are. Any ideas, guys?” He looked around. Summer and Raven shook their heads.

“I might have an idea,” Qrow grunted.

“Really?” Tai’s eyes lit up. “Alright, let’s hear it.”

“That guy…had long red hair,” Qrow explained. “Yesterday in History, we saw a picture of that Faunus girl who was killed before the war started…and she had the exact same hairstyle.”

“Violet Fortune, right?” Raven frowned. “Now that you mention it, I see the resemblance. Are you suggesting-“

“No, Sis,” Qrow sighed. “I don’t think Viola-whatever is R. I don’t believe in dead people coming back to life.”

Tai raised his eyebrows. “That’s not what Rae told me. In fact -“

“Goddammit Tai, shut up!” Qrow yelled. “Look, point is, I can’t help but feel like this girl and the Revenants are connected somehow. I mean, she died, and the Faunus War started. Now it turns out one the syndicate’s members is a war criminal from that same war! Personally, I think that’s too much to be a coincidence!”

“You’re not wrong, it is suspicious,” Raven admitted. “But we can’t say for sure; after all, auburn hair isn’t a rare trait.”

“Hey, you want a lead, or not?” Qrow grumbled, laying back down on his bed.

 Summer remembered how Qrow had seemed so intrigued by Violet’s picture. So this was why.

“What about the ‘Grandmaster’?” she asked. _The one who’s so ‘interested’ in me…_

“No clue,” Qrow shrugged. Tai and Raven also seemed stumped.

“Alright,” Summer sighed. “So, what now?”

“Right now, our best course of action is to await further instructions from Ozpin,” Raven replied immediately. “I’m certain he knows of our involvement in yesterday’s incident. Soon, it will be time for all the first-years to choose assignments; and we’ll just have to pick something that leads us to clues.”

“But in the meantime, we should also keep investigating, in our own way,” Qrow growled. He cringed from his wound. “Well, you guys’ll probably get a head start.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tai said cheerfully. Summer agreed.

“In any case, it seems that’s all we can do for now,” Raven concluded. “Come on everyone, or we’ll be late for class.” She turned towards the door; Summer and Tai followed.

“Just cause you’re hurt doesn’t mean you get to skip homework,” Tai grinned at Qrow as he walked out. “Remember what happened to you in pre-school?”

“I’m gonna kill you, you son of a bitch…” Qrow moaned from within his blankets.

* * *

From inside headquarters, Buck angrily patched up his wounds.

“Those brats…” he muttered. “Think they’re so tough…I’ll get ‘em next time.”

From beside him, his comrade was shining his big black boots. “Well sir, we were supposed to wait for the order before-“

“Silence, Simon,” Buck rasped. “Have you forgotten who your boss is?”

“Err…sorry, sir,” Simon muttered nervously, his cat ears twitching.

“Anyway…I suppose we might as well test this out,” Buck grumbled, staring at the artifact R had given him. He held it out in front of him, creating a small black-and-red void. He could sense a strange presence emanating from it.

“What the hell is this?” he exclaimed.

_Greetings._ A voice came from within the void. _I believe this is the first time we’ve formally spoken to each other, Timber London and Simon Carabas. It is good to meet you._

“You’re…the Grandmaster?” Simon asked, staring at the swirling shape in front of him.

_That is the name your benefactor chose for me. I don’t mind it,_ the voice replied. _R has informed me of the events that took place last night. How was your experience, Mr. London, or would you prefer ‘Buck’?_

“It was all fine until those brats from the Academy showed up,” Buck spat. “I’m not sure what you’ve been telling your lackey, but that girl in white doesn’t seem to be anything special. Just another soft, pathetic human.”

_Ah, is that so? Then please, explain to me why you were so soundly defeated._

“They got _lucky_ ,” he sneered. “They needed to fight me four-on-one to even stand a chance. I don’t see how that makes her a ‘danger’ to the plan.”

_Nevertheless, they bested you, and you would have been finished were it not for R’s arrival. In addition, you overstepped your boundaries and took action without R’s order. I hope you understand this is the one time I will pardon your insolence._

“Kh…if you insist.” Buck spat. “But then what in Frith’s name am I supposed to do now?”

“Remain in the shadows, as you _should_ have done from the start, until the next phase begins,” came a voice from behind. From seemingly nowhere, the masked man walked up to the two Faunus.

“R!” Simon exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

_This is certainly a surprise, R,_ the Grandmaster mused. _Considering your position, is it really wise to join us at this time of day?_

“They won’t suspect anything,” R replied dismissively. “There are places and passageways in Vale even Ozpin is unaware of. You taught me that, Grandmaster.”

_Ah. So I did. To what do I owe this pleasure?_

“I’m here to make sure my _comrade_ hasn’t gotten rebellious again…but while I’m here, I’d like to deliver some good news,” R explained. “I’ve received confirmation that Ozpin will be visiting Atlas for the Vytal Festival.”

_Excellent,_ came the Grandmaster’s voice. _The plan is proceeding perfectly. If all goes well, we shall snuff out both Vale and Atlas in a single strike. Continue with your preparations, R. And continue to observe Summer Rose._

“Yes, Grandmaster.” R bowed.

“Wait a damn minute,” Buck sneered. “How come _you_ get to do the dirty work while we’re stuck here for months until the Vytal Festival?”

“Because I have yet to disobey the Grandmaster’s orders, Buck,” R replied coldly. “Can you say the same?”

“You insolent…I _hired_ you!”

“You did not. _We_ offered to lend our assistance to your cause. Do not mistake your place.” R turned away. “I must go now. You two, use that artifact whenever you need to contact the Grandmaster. I will be out of touch for a while.” With that, they walked out of the room.

“Good riddance,” grumbled Buck. He turned to the Grandmaster’s voice. “I’m not saying I don’t appreciate your help, but I’m a suspicious man. Just who the hell are you, really?”

_I’m someone who has a score to settle,_ the Grandmaster replied simply. _And I will stop at nothing to crush my enemy, and make them savour true despair. Really, we’re quite the same._

“I doubt it.” Buck looked dissatisfied, but did not continue his questioning. “Whatever the case, now we’ve got a way to talk to each other, so I think we’ll continue this later. In the meantime, I’ll begin boring myself to death.” Angrily, he shook the artifact, causing the void to dissipate.

“Master Buck…” Simon said nervously.

“It’s alright, lad,” Buck rasped. Turning his head up, he laughed. “We’ll bide our time for now. But once my dream has been fulfilled…those two will know what it means to try and control me. _Everyone_ will. Just wait and see. Heheheh…”

* * *

_Within the infinite darkness, the thing smiled to itself. Whether it be humans or Faunus,_ _mankind never failed to amuse._

_How passionate they were. What fire in their hearts as they pursued their beloved ideals._

_What despair awaited them when they crumbled and fell against their destiny._

_The thing laughed, a laugh that seemed to echo in every horrid corner of the universe, resonating in the darkest depths of reality, where even gods would fear to tread._

_Brave plans indeed…but what would come of them?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay, that was a really long wait. Sorry for everyone who got introduced to this fic on AO3. If you wanted to read more, hopefully you were able to catch up on FF.net (where I originally posted my works), but if not, well, I'm hoping to continue posting here so that people can read wherever they want. As for entirely new chapters, they will come eventually, but for now I am (and have been) hard at work on something completely different. 
> 
> Cheers,  
> donutkirby


	12. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teams STRQ and HTHR take a much-needed break while preparing for the battles to come.

**Chapter 11: Preparations**

Sipping his coffee, Ozpin looked through the news. Naturally, the recent bombing in Vale had made the headlines. The low-profile crime syndicate known as the Revenants were claiming responsibility. At least thirty confirmed casualties.

_I see…so just as I suspected._ Ozpin reflected sadly on the lives that had been lost in the explosion. He wondered if it was possible that they could have been saved somehow. Even with all the Huntsmen in Remnant, evil could never be fully vanquished. Ozpin knew this better than anyone.

Team STRQ had done well-significantly better than he’d expected, considering the circumstances. A few days after the incident, Miss Rose, Miss Branwen and Mr. Xiao Long had come to his office to report.

“…And that’s the gist of it,” Raven had concluded. “We were unable to apprehend the culprits, I am afraid. We are sorry for this failure.”

“There’s no need to apologize.” Ozpin had assured her with his usual smile. “You all did your best, including your brother-who, I assume, is not too hurt?”

“He will recover, hopefully, by the end of the week.”

“I am glad to hear it. In the meantime, get some rest and return to your studies. When the time comes, I may ask for your assistance again. Please, do not tell anyone else about this matter.”

“Very well.” “Got it.” With that, Raven and Tai had left.

“But…!” Summer wasn’t satisfied. “What about the syndicate’s members? We ran into Buck, and their leader, ‘R’…and they mentioned the ‘Grandmaster’. We still don’t know anything about them, and-“

Ozpin raised his hands. “Please, Miss Rose, now is not the time. I hope you will not lose sleep over this incident. That wouldn’t bode well for your studies, would it?”

“…Okay,” she sighed. “I just…I don’t want them to get away with what they’re doing.”

“I understand,” Ozpin replied gently. “But for the moment there is nothing more you can do. For now, all you can do is continue with your life as a Huntress-in-training. Do you realize that?”

Reluctantly, Summer had nodded, and followed her teammates out of the office.

Now, Ozpin was sitting in his chair, his mind filled with the events of that night, his thoughts filled with sadness and apprehension.

_She is strong. But not strong enough. Not yet._

_Indeed, she has a difficult path ahead of her. And it is something she must face, eventually._

_But today, she is still a child. And so, I must leave her to live as a child…for now._

* * *

The streets of Vale were as busy as they always were on a Sunday noon. Several months had passed since the terrorist bombing of the Low-Go Department Store, and life was back to normal. Among the masses was one individual, indistinguishable from everyone else in the crowd. No one could have known that this person, from time to time, donned a white mask, a red wig and a dark robe, and called themselves ‘R’.

At the moment, however, they were someone else, living an entirely different existence. They walked up to a food stand by the pier and ordered a hot dog. The owner recognized her regular customer and smiled.

A minute later, they were walking downtown, eating lunch like any normal, law-abiding citizen. They looked around the city, admiring at what a beautiful day it was. _People really do thrive most in times like this._

Suddenly, their ears picked up. A rather heated argument was taking place someplace to their right. They couldn’t help but listen on what they were discussing. _Hmm…perhaps …?_

They walked towards the alley near a small weapons shop, and hid behind a nearby wall. There was no one nearby, save for two men just outside the shop’s doors.

“I can’t do that!” An old man in an oil-stained uniform, likely the shopkeeper. “I’ve got a damn business to run, y’hear?!”

“Sorry, sir, but we can’t just ignore this,” the other man, a young police officer replied calmly. “We’ve received too many complaints from your workers claiming you’re overworking them. If you don’t adjust their workload accordingly-“

“Like hell I will! My business is fine the way it is! They’re just whining because they’re ungrateful bastards who wouldn’t find a job anywhere else!”

“Please, sir…” the officer paused. “…Does this have anything to do with that some of your workers being Faunus?”

“What about them?” the shopkeeper snapped. “They’re just animals, so what if they work a little more than normal people, huh? It’s what they’re made for! Besides, I bet the Schnee Dust Company does this shit too!”

“Please, calm down, sir,” the officer wrote something in his notebook. “You have three days to comply with their demands, or you will have to appear in court. With all the criminal attacks against Faunus lately, I’d advise you not to start any trouble. Good day.” Without waiting for an answer, he walked away.

The shopkeeper spat at the ground. “Pheh…if they weren’t working for me, I’d wish they’d all just die…” he walked back indoors.

In the shadows, R smiled. _What a perfect opportunity._ They reached into their pocket and pulled out the rat Grimm. “Time for another mission,” they whispered.

Immediately, the Grimm melted into a thick black fluid, which flowed through the front entrance of the shop, and was gone.

_Now…to wait and observe._

* * *

“Heads up!” Tai yelled at Qrow. “On your right!”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Qrow grumbled, blocking a flurry of knives with his blade. “This stuff is nothing.”

“Hey, do you have any idea how expensive these things are?” Regal replied indignantly, producing more combat knives from his pouch with a flourish. “Each one is crafted by hand in the most prestigious factory in all of Atlas, and each is adorned with the feather of a rare breed of swan! They’re my pride and joy!”

Qrow sighed. “Save me the details, pal. Can we just get on with this?”

“If you insist.” With five knives in each hand, Regal charged at him, and practice continued.

Summer leaned back on the grass and sighed contentedly. It really was a beautiful afternoon. The last few months had been rather uneventful-no word from Ozpin, nor any activity by the syndicate. It meant they could go on with school life as normal. Right now, it was just what she needed. And Qrow’s injury had healed quickly. That was nice too.

After all, the students were in the middle of their summer break-it would be another week or two before second term began. It was a time for some students to relax and enjoy themselves, and for others it was an opportunity to train even harder than before in preparation for the Vytal Festival Tournament.

On this day, Team STRQ and Team HTHR had met up at a park close to Beacon Academy for some snacks and games. They’d sat down on a grassy green hill spacious enough for combat practice, or a friendly (and friendship-breaking) game of cards.

Qrow and Regal had scoffed at the idea of playing Grimm-VS-Hunters Trading Card Game (“It’s for freaking _ten-year olds!”_ and _“_ Why would I play something that I can buy for two Lien at the local bargain store?”) and were dueling near the bottom of the hill.

“C’mon Summer, time for Round Two!” Tai called to her. Sitting up reluctantly, she picked up five cards from her deck and glanced at them. One Archer, two Swordsmen, a Nevermore and an Ursa.

_That’s an okay hand,_ she decided. She didn’t play board games or cards much, but this was one she was typically good at. The concept was simple: take out the other players’ cards, losing all cards in your deck results in elimination, and the last man standing won.

“Let’s begin.” Heather adjusted her glasses, smiling. “I’m going first-I put down two Beowolves.” She placed the cards on the table. “Since I have two of the same Grimm card, all Grimm get a 25 point attack boost on their first move.”

“But…” Munching on some potato chips, Tai put down a Swordsman and a Soldier card. “Swordsmen are super-effective against Beowolves, and mine gets a 2x attack boost because of my Soldier’s support ability!” He grinned. “Beat that!”

Wordlessly, Torrence played two Gunners. That was a particularly deadly combination-Gunners were the strongest class, and having two at the same time halved damage done to them. Summer cringed, remembering the various games she’d lost at the hands of that combo.

Harriet shuffled her cards uncertainly. “…My turn.” Hesitantly, she put down an Archer and a King Taijitu. _Oh, crap! That’s a rare Level 3 Gold card! It gets two attacks per turn!_

Summer looked down at her own cards. _I’m going to have to play this right._ “Okay, I’m going next.” She placed a Swordsman and the Nevermore. The Nevermore was her strongest card, and the Swordsman had an advantage over its weakness, the Archer.

“…” Raven was still staring at her deck, confused.

“Rae? You playing?” Tai inquired.

“…I don’t quite understand this game. Why are Grimm and Hunters fighting together? Why do certain cards have stronger stats? None of it makes any sense.”

“Lighten up, Raven!” Heather laughed. “It’s just a game, there’s no need to take it so seriously. Here, let me see…” she looked through her deck. “Hmm…, you’ve got a Faunus card, they have the highest accuracy out of all classes, though they’re rather fragile. Ah, you’ve also got a Creep and a Solider, they’re the weakest classes, but they have extremely useful support classes-for example, the Creep halves damage done to the other card.”

“...I…see.” Raven still looked flabbergasted, but she put down her Faunus and Creep.

“Excellent,” Heather smiled. “Then, shall we begin? I’ll go first. I send my Beowolf to attack Harriet’s Archer. Super effective _and_ a 25 point boost. 150 points of damage total.”

“Aww, no fair!” Harriet pouted, wagging her tiny tail indignantly.

Now his turn, Tai, with a truly sadistic grin on his face, proceeded to take out one of Heather’s Beowolves in one hit with a strike from his Swordsman. Heather scowled. “Now that is just disgusting. I hope they nerf Swordsmen in the next update,” she complained.

And so, the game continued. Raven and Heather were the first to get taken out. Raven in particular didn’t seem like she had any idea what she was doing.

“…Rae, you can’t attack three times in one turn,” Tai told her, trying not to smile.

“But why?” Raven grumbled, eyebrows twitching in anger. “Why would these fighters stand there and wait for their opponents’ turn? This game is utterly ridiculous!”

“You’re…actually serious.” Tai sighed.

Meanwhile, Summer took another card from her deck to replace her fallen Nevermore. _Yes!_ She whooped internally. _A Gold card!_ She’d drawn the Level 3 Archer, the legendary Huntress Diana Crescend, one of the greatest fighters Remnant had ever seen. She’d supposedly had superhuman powers that exceeded Dust and Aura. And her card granted a support ability of a x3 attack bonus to Archers.

“So you guys ready for the school dance?” Tai asked, drawing another card. “Shame it got delayed till after the assignment, but hey, it’s still gonna be awesome!”

“…Yup,” Torrence nodded. It was always a surprise to hear him actually talk. “The refreshments will definitely be top-notch.”

Heather glanced at him, exasperated. “You really just use that mouth for eating, not talking, don’t you?”

“Haha…well, he’s probably right,” Harriet laughed. “I’m…looking forward to it, too, since I’ve never gone to a big dance before.”

“What, didn’t you go to the dance back at Signal?” Tai inquired.

“No…I wasn’t there for much long. I jumped from school to school a lot before I settled on Beacon. All those academies looked good on my transcript, I guess…” Harriet sighed dejectedly. “It meant I didn’t get to make many friends, though…”

“Well, you’ve got them now,” Summer reassured her. “Oh, and by the way, we’re all waiting on your turn.”

“Ack! Oops, s-sorry!” she stammered, fumbling through her deck.

The game went on for about five more minutes. There were lots of close calls (and plenty of screaming and complaining) but Summer ultimately emerged victorious with a boosted attack from her Archer on Harriet’s Nevermore.

“Aww…” Harriet sighed. “And I was so close last game, too…”

“Hey, just because your start off strong doesn’t mean you win!” Tai (who’d won the previous round) laughed. ”Good game, everyone!”

“I still don’t get what’s so fun about this game,” Qrow grumbled, walking over to the group.

“I don’t see how your violent video games are any better,” Summer pointed out.

“Hey, don’t compare your lame cards to Immortal Killers!” Qrow said while wagging his finger. “You don’t get to see people ripped to bloody pieces while their entrails spill out in any other game, okay?”

“That’s totally barbaric!”

“Wimp,” Qrow sighed. “I bet you wouldn’t beat me a game like that! Not even Sis can beat my high score.”

Raven shook her head with a cocky smirk. “Don’t you think you’re overestimating yourself, Brother?”

“What’s that, a challenge?” Qrow returned her look. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Well, this sounds interesting,” Heather said, interest piqued. “How about we return to the dormitories and try this new game out?”

Tai looked skeptical. “Uh, you sure about that? That thing’s banned in two Kingdoms for a reason.”

“Of course! Trying new things is the most important part of being a Huntress!” she smiled. “Come on, everyone, let’s go.”

* * *

About an hour later, all eight of them were crammed in Team STRQ’s dormitory. Regal was passed out on Tai’s bed, having stuffed himself on Tai’s hidden food stash. Harriet was looking through Raven’s novels, her face flushed an impressive shade of red, and her eyes fixated intensely on the pages as she flipped through them with lightning speed. Torrence, Qrow, Raven and Tai were taking turns playing Immortal Killers: Ultra-Violent Brutality Mode, while Heather was retching in disgust into a nearby trash can. Apparently, the young Vacuo champion was extremely squeamish.

Summer, meanwhile, was sitting alone in the one unmolested corner of the room, trying to concentrate on her writing. It was impossible. To make matters worse, in the past hour, a mixture of bad table manners and sore losers’ tantrums had terraformed the dormitory into a landfill. Food containers, books, action figures and more garbage was strewn across the floor. She pitied the poor soul who would have to clean the mess up (most likely herself).

On the TV, Qrow’s character sliced Raven’s into a thousand pieces, sending blood and guts splattering all over the screen. _SOARING NINJA WINS. TOTAL ANNIHILATION,_ came the announcer’s voice.

“And I win again!” Qrow smirked, throwing his hands up triumphantly. “That’ll teach you not to challenge my pro skills, Sis!”

“Nonsense,” Raven said dismissively. “Repeating the same combo attacks over and over can hardly be considered “skill”.”

“Hey, it’s a legitimate strategy!”

Tai waved at the girls on the other side of the room. “Summer, Harriet, c’mon! Are you not gonna play at all?”

“…” Harriet was too fixated on her book to reply. Steam was coming out of her ears.

“Uh, thanks, but I’m fine.” Summer shook her head. “It’s not my type of game.”

“Haha! More like you’re just too much a wuss to handle it!” Qrow chuckled, still drunk on his victory. “Hey, if you’re feelin’ sick, join Glasses Girl over there in the trash can!”

Summer glared at him. “…On second thought, I’ll make an exception this time.” It was true that violence made her feel ill, but she wasn’t going to take an insult from her uncouth partner sitting down. She walked over to the TV and picked up the second controller.

“Heh, guess you’ve got some guts after all,” Qrow said with a grin. “Try not to cry too hard when you lose.”

Gore aside, Summer had to admit the game was actually really fun. It was extremely satisfying to land attacks on her opponent, and to actually see and hear the impact instead of having to imagine it like when playing cards.

She got the hang of the controls quickly, but she was still no match for Qrow, who soon beat her 3-0.

_SOARING NINJA WINS. TOTAL ANNIHILATION._

“Hell yeah! I am freaking awesome!” Qrow pumped his fist in the air.

“Good game,” Summer sighed, shaking her sore red hands. “Ugh…that was exhausting.”

Tai laughed. “Well, you’re not a true gamer till you get your first blisters on your hands. It’s an art few dare to master.”

“You make it sound so epic,” Summer grumbled, “when you’re just mashing buttons.”

“Ignore her, for she knows not what she says,” Qrow grinned at Tai. “You seem to know your stuff, Blondie.”

“Eh. I’m not that great,” Tai shrugged. “But I do know a lot of great cheat codes that work with these games. For example, the nudity mod is 034369-”

“Alright, I’m glad we are all having fun, but I think that’s enough for now.” Her face pale, Heather interrupted the gaming fanatics’ conversation and turned off the console.

“Hey!” Qrow protested. Heather ignored him, and turned on the news to Huntsman Everyday. “I’m going to check to see if that new pistol model has been released,” she declared.

“A crime was discovered in downtown Vale earlier today,” the newscaster was saying. A     screenshot on the TV depicted a small machinery workshop. “The owner of Festus Gears was arrested on the charge of murdering four workers several days ago. A few hours ago, a customer smelled a foul, rotting scent coming from within the store, and contacted the police. The bodies were discovered in the storage room soon after, and the owner was arrested on the spot.”

The news feed switched to several police cars surrounding Festus Gears, the area around the store blocked off with yellow tape. Paramedics were loading four body bags onto stretchers. An officer was handcuffing an elderly man wearing an apron.

“It wasn’t me!” The man was screaming. “Please, I’m telling you, I’m innocent! I didn’t kill them!”

“Not much else is known about the case at the moment,” the newscaster continued. “other than that all four victims were Faunus. No motive has been discerned, though the factory has a history with overworking its Faunus employees.”

Summer felt her body going cold. She had a feeling she knew where this was going. Beside her, Harriet had walked up to the TV, staring intently.

“The police also found this graffiti on the side of the factory.” The camera panned to a shot of the Revenants’ insignia on the factory wall. “Witnesses have noted that a similar symbol appeared on the Low-Go Department Store shortly before it was bombed by currently unknown terrorists. The symbol is also believed to be related to a string of crimes that occurred in Atlas a few months ago, though the connection is unknown. In the meantime-“

Heather quickly changed the channel. “Er-I-I think we don’t need to see anymore of that,” she said, glancing nervously at Harriet.

“…” The rabbit Faunus was silent.

“Uh, so that was, um…” Tai was trying to think of something to say. “Uh, so, let’s forget we saw that, eh?” He grinned sheepishly. Qrow shot him an annoyed look.

“Harriet?” Summer asked quietly. “Are you alright?”

“I…don’t get it…” she murmured. “Why…does everyone hate us so much?” She looked ready to cry.

No one said a thing. The fun atmosphere in the room had all but vanished. Finally, Summer spoke up.

“Do you really think everyone hates Faunus?” she asked.

“Huh?” Harriet looked at her.

Summer shook her head. “Well, you’re wrong. We’re your friends, Harriet. We don’t care if you’re a human or a Faunus. Do you believe that?”

Harriet stared at the ground for a few seconds. “But…it’s not just about me. So many Faunus are suffering, every day…and no one does anything about it. It’s just not fair,” she spat angrily.

“That’s why we’re here, remember?” Summer replied. “To make things right. We’re here to bring justice to people who are wronged-and that includes the Faunus. Remember when I stood up for you against Jin on the first day? I’m not the only one who can do it. Everyone has the ability to help others. And you can help too. We all work together to make the world a better place for everyone. That’s another important part of being a Huntress.” She turned to Heather. “Right?”

Heather nodded, smiling. “You’re absolutely right.”

“That’s exactly the type of corny shit you would say,” Qrow muttered with a smirk. Torrence nodded in silent approval.

Summer felt a warm sensation through her as her friends smiled at her. What she’d just said was something she believed with all her soul, and she was glad to see everyone else agree.

“…Justice, huh?” Harriet was smiling now. “It sounds…a bit too good to be true.” She wiped away a tear, looking at Summer. “But…thanks. I…feel better now.”

“That’s all that matters.” Summer smiled back.

A few minutes later, everyone shook Regal awake, and Team HTHR left (without cleaning up their mess, naturally). Team STRQ were the only ones left.

“That was some speech, Summer,” Tai grinned. “Wanna try out for public speaking sometime?’

Summer shuddered. “In your dreams.”

“Indeed, those were uplifting words,” Raven said, stretching out her arms. “But some would classify them as nothing but wishful idealism from a fairy tale. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t one of them, to an extent.”

“I know,” Summer replied. “But it’s still something I believe in.”

Qrow sighed. “Yeah, this is great and all, but can we talk about the important thing? The syndicate has struck again! We need to do something about it, fast!”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do this time,” Raven pointed out. “This incident occurred days ago. It’s unlikely we’ll find any clues.”

“Tch…but I still don’t like not being able to do anything.” Summer agreed with him.

“Well, then we’ll just have to wait a few more weeks,” Tai said cheerfully. “Soon, it’ll be time for our first assignment! I’m sure we’ll get a lead then!”

Raven nodded. “He’s right. Our chance is coming very soon. But for now, let’s enjoy what’s left of our break.” She pulled out a DVD case from her pocket. “Why don’t we continue watching Season 14 of Heartbreak: Ninjas of Love?”

“ ** _NO!_** ” Tai, Summer and Qrow screamed in unison.

“Philistines,” she grumbled.


	13. The City of Embers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team STRQ's next mission is to scout a long-abandoned village with a bloodsoaked history. But what appears to be a routine assignment could soon turn into something far more dangerous.

**Chapter 12: The City of Embers**

Growling, Buck rammed his fists into his enemy’s face, beating him into pulverized scraps of meat. When that wasn’t enough, he readied his weapon and fired machine-gun rounds into the hordes of soldiers who were charging at him. The Dust-laced bullets combusted on impact, consuming everyone in an infernal explosion of energy. The last remaining soldier continued his attack and prepared to strike. The weapon’s chainsaw blades cut him into shreds.

“Okay, that’s done,” he sighed, disappointed. “Simulation, deactivate.”

The battlefield around him dissipated into nothingness, leaving him back in the dark, featureless room he reluctantly called headquarters.

“Nicely done, Master Buck!” Simon called out to him, reading a book on the sofa.

“This tech is impressive, but it’s nothing compared to real fighting,” Buck snarled, his muscles still twitching with adrenaline. “It’s been months already…how much longer do we have to stay here?!”

“Be patient for just a little longer, Buck.”

The door opened and R stepped in. “It’s been a while, you two,” they said conversationally.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Buck spat.

R ignored him. “Have you been keeping in contact with the Grandmaster? If so, I assume you’re up to date on the situation.” Simon nodded, and Buck grunted “Yeah”.

“Excellent. That will make this quick, then. The Vytal Festival is almost upon us. Our plan has come together nicely so far, but we’re still short one piece-the most important piece, in fact,” they explained. “In a few days, we will claim it.”

“Heh-heh-heh…now that’s more like it!” Buck cracked his knuckles, grinning.

“I don’t think I need to remind you both how vital this next mission will be,” R said menacingly. “We will only get one chance. Do _not_ disappoint me.”

“Hmph. Like I would!” Buck snorted.

Simon glanced at R skeptically. “Are you sure this’ll work?” he questioned. “These are Beacon Huntsmen we’re talking about, after all…”

“Don’t worry,” the masked figure chuckled. “I’ve been studying them, and I’ve been sadly disappointed. The Grandmaster seems to have greatly overstated their strength…or perhaps they simply don’t make them the way they used to. They’ll never have a clue.”

* * *

“Would all first-year students please report to the amphitheatre immediately,” came Professor Goodwitch’s voice over the intercom.

“It looks like it’s time,” Raven announced. “This could be the opportunity that we’ve been looking for.”

“Uh, can it wait, Sis?” Qrow grumbled, furiously mashing buttons on his controller. “I’m like SUPER close to beating the campaign on Nightmare mode and-“

Summer sighed. “I don’t think that’s our priority right now, Qrow.”

“Sh-sh-sh. You could never understand the passion of a true gamer, partner.”

“Ah, just quit it.” Smiling, Tai unplugged the TV, shutting off the game.

“NOOOOO! My progress!!!” Qrow screamed like someone had just killed his best friend.

Summer checked her bag to make sure she had everything she needed. _Food, check. Sleeping bag, check. Weaponry, check. Okay, looks like I have everything._ She swallowed her fears and followed Raven out of the dorm. Tai followed, dragging a complaining Qrow by the shirt.

Throughout the second half of their break, criminal activity from the syndicate had sprung up yet again. Most of them were small, disorganized crimes against Faunus-run establishments, like property damage and robberies. Unfortunately-or rather, fortunately-there hadn’t been anything major enough for Team STRQ to get involved. Once school had resumed, the crimes had mostly stopped, and life had gone on as normal.

Now was the time for the first-years to pick their first assignment. Technically, it wasn’t THEIR first, since they’d already been given that mission from Ozpin, but the idea was the same. _This is an important moment in my life as a Huntress,_ Summer thought to herself. _Syndicate investigations or not, I won’t mess this up!_

Not to mention, for this assignment they’d be accompanied by a veteran Huntsman. It would be a fantastic learning experience, and a chance to show off what she’d learned to a real professional.

The four students reached the amphitheatre, which was packed to the brim with students. Looking around the room, Summer noticed groups of students wearing different uniforms. _They must be from the other three Academies._

“It appears everyone is here,” Ozpin announced from atop the podium. “Then let us begin.” A brief pause followed, and the headmaster began his speech.

“Vale, Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo. Four nations-the entire world-standing unified with a common purpose. Nearly sixty years ago, the people of this land were at each other’s throats in the worst war in history. Countless lives were lost as nameless cannon-fodder in a conflict without end. It is truly a tragic irony that so many lost their identity as men in a war fought for their individuality. Indeed, we were fighting against the stifling of art itself-our ability to express ourselves. But on this day, all those years ago, this war came to an end, and an era of peace was ushered in. And to this day, we as the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Remnant, will fight to protect this peace. The assignments you choose today will serve as an important step in your careers-so remain vigilant, and follow orders from your mentor. Now, do your very best, and remember-all of you are the future of this world.”

Ozpin stepped off the podium, and the masses of students began wandering around the room looking at projector screens displaying assignments.

“Moment of truth, guys,” Tai murmured. “Let’s check the ‘scout’ missions first.”

The four of them walked towards an area of the room that was less crowded. Nearby, Heather’s team was glancing at a screen displaying a ‘search and destroy’ mission.

“Hey…how about this one?” Harriet suggested. “We can split up and clear out Grimm in various portions of the area.”

Regal sighed. “Lame. This looks way too easy. Even a first-year at Signal could do something like this.”

“B-but…” Harriet pleaded. “I want to take this one…”

“Well, if she insists, I guess we can’t really deny her request,” Heather smiled. “I wanted this one too, so it works out.”

Meanwhile, Summer and company approached a spare screen displaying a strange ruins. The caption read, “Investigate Mysterious Grimm Sightings Near Pandora Village.”

“’Mysterious Grimm’, huh…reminds me of our masked friend’s little pet,” Qrow muttered.

“Hmmm…it seems like a plausible lead,” Raven contemplated. “Especially since it’s _this_ village we’re talking about…”

“Aaand…” Tai flipped through the mission synopsis. “Apparently a bunch of Faunus merchants got attacked by these ‘mysterious Grimm’ on their way through the area. Jackpot!”

“Faunus…” Summer murmured. “Sounds like the syndicate, all right.”

“Then let’s do this.” Qrow entered S-T-R-Q onto the screen, which promptly made a noise signifying that they’d been approved for the mission.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching. It was Professor Goodwitch.

“It looks like you’ve selected your mission,” the young teacher noted, her face stern as always. “Pandora, hmm? I must warn you that this one is rather difficult for first-years.”

Tai shrugged. “Meh. We’ll wing it. How bad could it be?” he said while flashing a grin.

“And we’ll be shadowing a genuine Huntsman, so it can’t be that bad,” Summer added. _It’s not like it was ever going to be easy._

“I suppose I can’t stop you.” Goodwitch adjusted her glasses with a small smile. “Oh, and for the record, I am the Huntress whom you will be accompanying.”

* * *

Twenty hundred feet above ground, the aircraft rumbled and shook as it flew toward its destination.

“We’re experiencing a bit of turbulence,” Goodwitch announced. “Just hold on, we’ll be there soon.”

“Urgghhh…” Qrow clutched his stomach, leaning over the trash can. “There goes my breakfast.”

Summer raised her eyebrows. “Are you…air sick?” She had to admit, it was quite funny. “But you can turn into a bird and fly and all that…”

“Ohhh…why d’you think I do that instead of this crap?” her partner growled. “Seriously, the engineers in Atlas are gonna kill someone with these pieces of junk one day.”

“It really isn’t _that_ bad…” Summer sighed. She turned to the professor. “I didn’t think you’d be the one we’d be shadowing, Professor Goodwitch.”

”And you’re pretty young for a teacher,” Tai added insensitively from his seat. “How old are you, Professor?”

Goodwitch seemed unmoved by her student’s rudeness. “I only graduated myself two years ago. However, I can assure you my skills are more than enough to guide you through this mission. After all, Ozpin himself requested me to take it.”

“Oh, so you’re only five years older than us, huh?” Tai grinned. “Weeelll…what if I said that you’re just my type?”

Professor Goodwitch shot him a withering glare. “Taiyang Xiao Long, please refrain from any more unsavoury comments or you will be sent to detention the moment we return.”

“Heh! Shot down!” Qrow chuckled at his friend, still clutching his stomach.

“I’ve had worse,” Tai replied.

Summer rolled her eyes, and turned her gaze to Raven, who was sitting in her seat reading a large book. She walked over to her. “Hey, what are you reading?”

“Hm?” Raven looked up. “Oh…this book belonged to my father. It’s all about Remnant’s history.”

Summer glanced at the book. The pages were yellow and wrinkled, and the spine looked ready to collapse at a moment’s notice. “It’s, umm, really old, huh?”

“Oh, this isn’t a book you can find in stores,” Raven smiled. “It’s something of a family heirloom. My great-grandfather was an archeologist, and he was around when Remnant was first founded. Much of what he saw around that time was documented in this book. It’s practically an artifact.”

“An ‘artifact’, huh? So it’s like a relic from before Remnant’s time? I bet you could make a lot of Lien off of it,” Summer said jokingly.

“Perish the thought,” Raven said, looking genuinely offended. “This book is very precious to my family, after all. I was reading this just now because I thought I could find some information on the rat Grimm R had. It could be a species thought to have died off years ago.”

“And…have you found anything?” Summer asked skeptically.

“…No,” Raven admitted.

About thirty more minutes passed before the aircraft began to descend. By the time they landed, it was almost evening.

As Summer walked out, she took in the scene before her. “Whoa…” she murmured in shock.

This was no village-it was the ruins of a large village. There was wreckage of where buildings and houses once stood. Debris was scattered all around the area. The ground was utterly barren, and all the trees surrounding the ruins were withered and dead. And the entire area was painted a deep ash-gray. Against the backdrop of the setting sun, it was a hauntingly beautiful scene.

“So this is the infamous Pandora Village, huh…?” Qrow muttered.

“Correct,” said Professor Goodwitch as she walked out of the aircraft. “One of the first established settlements when Remnant was formed. It was also one of the first to fall.”

“What…happened here?” Summer asked.

“Ahh, in a week or two, you would have learned it in History class,” Glynda responded. “In that case, allow me to give you a preview course. As you should know, when Remnant was first formed in the ashes of the old world, in order to combat the growing threat of the Grimm, mankind searched for various ways to defend themselves and rebuild. With the aid of artifacts and long-lost technology, Dust was created. Of course, it was a while before they were able to manufacture it in the easily usable form we all use today. There were many prototypes that were more powerful, but were ultimately deemed inefficient to use, whether it be because they were too unstable to be safe for work, or because consistent production was simply impossible. Some of them were stored away in case desperate enough measures arose that they would be needed. One such was kept here. It was called-“

“Promethian Ore, a primordial form of modern-day Fire Dust,” Raven interrupted. “It was mentioned in my great-grandfather’s book.”

Glynda nodded. “While I don’t appreciate being interrupted, I’m glad to see you’ve heard of it. That will make this quick, then. The Promethian Ore was one of the first Dust prototypes and was, without exception, the most powerful form of Dust to ever be made. However, its power was deemed too great, as it could cause untold destruction if a war between humans ever broke out. As such, only one crystal was ever made, and it was handed over to Pandora Village, a peaceful town away from much of the Grimm conflict, for safekeeping. Unfortunately, eventually the villagers’ curiosity and greed overpowered them, and they decided to use the Ore for their own purposes. They attempted to cut the crystal into smaller pieces.” She gestured around at the ruins. “This was the result.”

“Holy shit…”Tai looked shocked. “One crystal of that thing destroyed an entire village?”

“Not quite.” Professor Goodwitch took out her Scroll and tapped on the folder labelled ‘artifacts’. She brought up a picture of a large neon-orange crystal, twice as big as mainline-produced Dust. A tiny dent was barely visible near the top.

“From what we can gather, the villagers cut off a miniscule piece from the crystal. The fragment became unstable from being separated from its whole, and detonated, wiping Pandora from the face of Remnant in an instant.”

“Jeez…” For once, Tai was lost for words. He simply stared at the wreckage of Pandora, awe in his eyes.

“But how come no one ever cleaned it up?” Summer inquired. _I can’t believe something like this actually happened once…_ “Or tried to rebuild the village.”

“The ruins became a hotspot for Grimm activity after the tragedy, and it still is one today. But the main reason would be…superstition,” Glynda responded with a frown. “To many, Pandora is a reminder of how dangerous power can be, and how easily it can corrupt good men. They believe the area is cursed, and attempting to rebuild it-or even approaching the ruins-will bring death and destruction. Some refer to it as ‘the City of Embers.’”

“And the Promethian Ore?” Qrow asked. “What happened to it?”

“It was eventually retrieved from the rubble without a scratch on it from the explosion. As for where it is now…” Glynda adjusted her glasses warningly. “That, Mr. Branwen, is classified.”

“Classified, huh?” He reached into his pocket. “How about handing over the intel for the small price of five-hundred-“

“No bribery.”

Qrow shrugged. “Eh. Was worth a shot.”

“At any rate, it’s getting close to nightfall.” Professor Goodwitch began walking towards the ruins. “The lesson is over. We’ll be making camp as soon as possible.”

The five of them wandered through Pandora, stealthily avoiding any contact with Grimm. There was no sign of any ‘mysterious’ Grimm as the request had mentioned. Finally, they approached a building that was slightly less demolished than the rest.

“We shall camp here tonight,” Goodwitch declared.

“Uh, here?” Tai asked, looking around in confusion. “It’s still kind of broken and all…”

Without responding, the professor raised her wand, and the fragments of the building rose up and pieced themselves together into something resembling a stable structure. “Yes. Here.”

They settled in, and set up their sleeping bags in a room on the second floor. While eating sandwiches, they discussed their plans for the next few days.

“It’s too late to go out and investigate today,” Professor Goodwitch said. “Get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we will comb every corner of the ruins to search for the ‘mystery Grimm’. You will likely have to fight many enemies. Don’t disappoint me, or you disappoint the entire Academy.”

“Gee, no pressure,” Qrow muttered.

“This has been one of the busiest years for Huntsmen in a decade,” she explained further. “Many of the senior students have also been dispatched to deal with various incidents across Remnant. We all need to play our part, and that includes you.” She shot a quick glance at Summer before looking away. “Goodnight, you four. Be ready to get up at six tomorrow.”

* * *

Night had fallen. Qrow, Tai and Raven were all fast asleep. Summer, however, was wide awake. Looking out the window, she saw the stars and moon illuminating the night sky. Half of the moon was broken into large chunks, as it had been since time immemorial. No one knew why it looked like that.

Summer glanced over at Professor Goodwitch, who was reading her Scroll on the other side of the room. _Now might be a good time to ask some questions._

“Professor?” She called out.

“What is it, Miss Rose?” the professor responded immediately.

“You’re…” _Where should I start…?_ “You’re close to Ozpin, right?”

“’Close’ is one way to say it, I suppose. Despite my young age, I am a close confidant of his.” She looked at Summer. “Is there a reason for this question?”

“W-well…” Summer stammered. “I…I’ve always got the feeling that Ozpin has been, um, watching me. I don’t know why…it’s just a feeling. I was wondering if you knew anything about that.”

“…” The professor was silent. Finally, she spoke.

“I can’t ease your worries in that regard. But I’ll tell you one thing. This assignment was meant specifically for you four.”

“Huh?”

“If any other team had picked it, it would not have accepted them. Ozpin wanted your team to take this mission, and I was assigned to it so I could observe you.”

“W-what…” Summer’s head was hurting. “But why?”

“…I’m afraid I can’t answer that. Not now, anyway.”

“I don’t understand. Is there something…unusual about me? That’s the impression I’ve been getting. It’s been bothering me for a while.”

“You’ll understand one day-but not now. Right now, you have a job to do.” Glynda smiled at her student. “You’re Team STRQ’s leader, Miss Rose. For now, all you need to do is to lead them into the life of fine Huntsmen.”

“…Yeah.” Summer nodded. “I got accepted into Beacon, after all. I can do that. Maybe I’ll find out one day.”

She hadn’t gotten exactly what she wanted, but it would have to be enough for now. She got into her sleeping bag, and fell asleep.

* * *

The screaming awoke her. She got up with a start, and looked around her. Her teammates were already up. Goodwitch was nowhere to be seen.

“Hwwahh…wuzzzat…?” She murmured sleepily.

“Someone’s in trouble!” Tai yelled, running for the stairs. “Grimm! The professor’s down there fighting them off!”

Qrow grabbed his sword. “C’mon, slowpoke! Get your lazy ass up and let’s go!” He and his sister ran after Tai.

Complaining, Summer picked up her bow and arrow and Dust crystals, and went down the stairs.

Outside the building, Professor Goodwitch swung her wand, raising large pieces of rubble from the ground and flinging them at hordes of Creeps. Occasionally she shot out rays of purple Dust energy, vaporizing multiple Grimm. There were at least thirty of them, but she was defeating them with ease.

“Whoa…” Summer murmured. No wonder Glynda Goodwitch was considered such a prodigy.

“So wait, where’d the scream come from?” Tai asked.

“That way.” Raven pointed to her right. “I can sense someone. They’re in a large amount of distress right now.”

“Go!” Goodwitch yelled. “I’ll join you in a minute!”

The four of them ran in the direction of the scream, and soon came across a young Faunus merchant running towards them.

“Oh, thank god!” they screamed joyfully. “Huntsmen! I’m saved!”

“What the hell happened to you?” Qrow asked him aggressively. “We could hear you screaming from a mile away!”

“G-Grimm…” the man was practically sobbing. “There were two others with me, but they…”

“How many Grimm are there?” Raven inquired. “We will deal with them to the best of our ability.”

“J-just one, but…”

_Just one?!_ “Okay, where is-“

Suddenly, the merchant screamed. He reached for his throat, gasping for breath as he began to float above the ground.

“What the hell?!” Tai nearly fell over.

The man flew backwards several feet, still floating. A large Grimm materialized out of thin air, grabbing the man’s throat.

“It was invisible?” Qrow yelled.

Even Raven looked shocked. “How…I couldn’t sense its presence at all!”

The Grimm resembled an Ursa, but there were differences: it was much larger, it had more armor covering its pitch-black fur, and its eyes were a sinister bright shade of purple rather than the normal molten-red of most Grimm.

“Looks like we found our ‘mystery Grimm’!” Tai exclaimed, raising his fists. “We gonna fight it?”

The Grimm growled, and held the Faunus in front of it, its hand clutching his head as if it was going to crush it like an egg at any moment. The merchant was frozen in fear, unable to even scream.

_It’s using him as a meat shield!_ Summer realized. _But…I thought Grimm were mindless attackers! They don’t have any intelligence! This shouldn’t be possible!_

“Dammit!” Qrow snarled. “If we attack, that guy’s dead!”

Suddenly, another growl came out of thin air. To the right of the giant Grimm, another purple-eyed Grimm uncloaked, looking just as powerful as the first.

“ _Another_ one?!” Tai exclaimed in disbelief.

Raven gritted her teeth. “It’s like being hit in the face with raw malevolence…!”

Summer’s heart was racing. “W-w-w-what should we do?” She stammered, hands shaking so badly she couldn’t even reach for her bow.

“You’re the leader, aren’t you? Can you not even make such simple decisions?” A familiar voice rang out. Summer’s heart sank.

“Oh, you have got to be _shitting_ me!” Qrow yelled, recognizing it too. “Why now, of all times?”

The masked figure materialized in between the two Grimm. Unlike them, it didn’t seem like they had just uncloaked-rather, they really hadn’t been there a moment ago. Summer was certain that beneath the white mask, the figure was smiling smugly at their prey.

“It’s been too long, my friends,” R purred. “Allow me to make up for lost time.”


	14. Breaking and Entering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team STRQ come face-to-face with the masked figure known only as 'R', and find themselves overwhelmed by their foe's power. Can they overcome the odds and prevail?

**Chapter 13: Breaking and Entering**

_I’m sure there’s ways things could have gone worse,_ Summer thought. _…Nope, I can’t think of anything._

The four of them were cornered by two gigantic, armoured Ursa Grimm who could turn invisible, one of them was holding a Faunus merchant hostage, ready to kill him at any moment, and their enemy was standing in front of them, gloating at their predicament. It didn’t get much worse than that.

“Ooooo-kay, guys,” Tai muttered nervously. “Let’s just hold out and the professor’ll come and help us-“

R shook their head. “That won’t be happening, sadly. The Grimm I dispatched should keep her busy long enough for me to…take care of you four.”

Tai winced. “Urk…dammit…”

“Yes, it seems you’ve really backed yourselves into a corner this time,” R said mockingly. “Unlike our last meeting, I’m afraid I won’t be so lenient.”

Qrow gritted his teeth. “You sure have a way with pissing me off, you know.” He prepared to draw his sword.

“Are you certain that will be the best course of action?” R asked. “Have you forgotten about my little advantage?” Beside him, the giant Grimm tightened its grip on the merchant’s head. The Faunus whimpered in terror.

“Bastard…” Qrow muttered.

Summer stared at the scene before her in disbelief. “The Grimm you ‘dispatched’?” she yelled. “Are these Grimm… _obeying_ you?!”

“Bingo! Got it in one!” R laughed. “It’s a skill that comes in handy in quite a few situations…like this!” They snapped their fingers, and suddenly multiple growls could be heard from close by. Summer and company looked to their left, and saw around twenty Grimm leaping over the edge of a nearby building. Within seconds, they were completely surrounded.

“Oh, now this is just ridiculous!” Qrow growled in frustration as the Grimm slowly approached them.

“So, uh…got any ideas?” Tai whispered (rather loudly).

“Well, even if we did, if we say them out loud, he’ll hear us!” Qrow hissed.

“Yeah, but we need to think of something!” Tai replied, agitated. “We can’t attack him when he’s got a hostage…”

Raven drew her katana. “Not necessarily.”

“What?” Tai stared at her.

“Even with these numbers of Grimm, the four of us can take them down without much trouble. Then we flee from the two giant Grimm and their master as fast as possible. We can even escape through a portal, provided I have an opportunity to activate one.”

Tai gulped. “O-okay, sounds alright…but what about the hostage?”

“What about him?”

“Eh?” Tai and Summer were both taken aback.

“At this rate, it will be his life against ours. And if we fall, he’ll likely be killed anyway. Personally, I’m not fond of those odds. If we need to sacrifice a single person to save all of us, so be it.”

In front of them, the merchant continued to struggle fruitlessly against his captor’s grip.

“What?” Summer yelled. “We can’t do that! Th-that’s not how Huntresses do things! We’re supposed to protect the w-“

Raven turned to look at her. Her eyes were hard and stern. “Summer…you may have a kind heart, but you never grew up fearing for your life every day. And you haven’t seen enough of the world to know that good people-yes, even Huntsmen-can act cruelly. If you’re displeased with how I do things, I can take all responsibility for-“

“Th-that’s not the issue here!” Summer snapped. She’d always felt that Raven was a little distant but she’d never seen her so…cold.

“Hate to say it, but she’s right,” Qrow mumbled, looking conflicted. “It might be our best option.”

“ _Qrow!”_

R laughed. “What, fighting amongst yourselves, now? I thought not being eaten was your immediate priority.”

Sure enough, the Grimm were getting ever closer to them. Team STRQ slowly backed up against each other. Raven was preparing to shoot at the giant Grimm-hostage and all.

“Rae, you can’t…!” Tai pleaded.

Summer was silent. She glanced at the giant Grimm as he held the merchant hostage.

The creature’s paw, like the rest of it, was abnormally big. It was also noticeably less armoured than the rest of its body. There were small chinks barely large enough for an arrow to fit through.

_If I shoot its paw…it might release the hostage in its pain,_ she deduced. _And then, we can get Raven to teleport him to safety. Then we can fight freely!_

But her plan was far from perfect. If she missed, the hostage was dead. No question. And the area where she could hit the giant without her arrow bouncing off harmlessly was rather low. But if she readied her bow in the direction of the giant’s paw in order to steady her aim, R would notice. And there was no telling what they’d do.

In other words, she’d have to hit a tiny target without properly aiming. And the punishment for failure was the death of an innocent person.

_I can’t do this…it’s too big a risk…I’ll just mess it up,_ she thought despairingly. Yet deep inside her, she felt a strange sensation. Determination and adrenaline were pumping through her body. The sensation felt tangible-sentient, even. _Yes, you can do this,_ it seemed to be whispering. _You were destined to do great things. This is nothing to you._

_…Alright. I’ll give it my best shot!_ Swallowing her terror, Summer took a deep breath and reached for her bow.

_“_ Summer, no!” Tai yelled.

“Oh?” R chuckled. “It seems your comrade’s words have reached you. She’s not wrong, after all.”

“…” Summer ignored them. Without aiming, she stared intently at the giant Grimm. She analyzed the layout of the creature’s paw, determining what spot would be the best to aim for. The process came surprisingly naturally to her. _…Okay. I’ll shoot…there._ She looked up and stared the Grimm square in the eyes. For a second, she could have sworn the beast took a small step backward, its revolting, inhuman eyes twisting into an emotion resembling…fear.

“Summer, please don’t do this!” Tai was pleading.

“…” Qrow said nothing, but stared at his partner thoughtfully, as if he could tell what she was planning.

_Okay. Here goes nothing._ Without warning, Summer swiftly aimed her bow and fired it at the beast’s paw.

The arrow hit its mark perfectly. The Grimm howled in pain, and released its hostage. The Faunus merchant collapsed to the ground, antlers first.

“Raven, now! Get him to safety!” Summer yelled. “Qrow, Tai, fire at will!”

Raven nodded, and promptly summoned a portal with her katana. “Get in! Now!” Nodding, the merchant walked in.

“Eat this, you bastards!” Qrow changed his sword into its gun form and fired several heavy bullets into the horde of Grimm. Tai turned around and began pummeling his enemies into powder, activating his Semblance for some extra strength.

“Tch! Well, well, not half bad,” R said, holding their hand out, generating a golden glow of energy-Aura. “The trial has concluded. Now comes the execution.”

“Looks like it’s time to get the hell out!” Qrow yelled. “Run, run, RUN!”

There was no need for him to say it. Summer turned and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Whenever a Grimm got in her way, she promptly shot it down with an arrow.

“There’s nowhere to run.” Out of nowhere, R materialized in front of the four Huntsmen and flung a small gold crystal at them. Upon hitting the ground, the crystal exploded in a burst of pure Aura, sending everyone flying.

“Ugh!” Summer hit the ground. _That was an Aura Capsule!_ Like Harriet, the masked figure could use this high-level Aura technique. And it seemed like they had the ability to teleport! _So much for running. We won’t get out of this without a fight!_

Without wasting a second, Raven picked herself up and threw herself at the masked figure, launching a flurry of sword strikes. R blocked them all with the Aura resonating from their hands.

Tai joined the fray. “Hrahh!” he shouted, throwing several powerful punches at his foe.

Meanwhile, Summer and Qrow were occupying themselves with the two giant Grimm. One of them ran towards Summer with surprising strength, and she barely dodged in time.

“Well, you took care of that pretty well!” Qrow called to her. “Can’t fault you for your guts, at least!”

“Ha! It was no problem at all!” Summer replied, lying through her teeth. “Turns out you can solve problems without hurting bystanders-who knew?”

“Hey, that wasn’t _my_ idea, it was Sis’!”

“Well, we could use some ideas now!” she yelled at Qrow. “How should we take down these Grimm?”

“Break its armor!” her partner yelled back. “Heavy attacks like explosive arrows and my blade should weaken it!”

“Got it!” She prepped her quiver with Ice-Dust arrows and fired at the Grimm. The impact brought forth bursts of freezing energy that encased the beast’s armoured belly in ice. The Grimm growled angrily, its movements greatly slowed by the extra weight. “Smash him up!” Summer called to Qrow.

“Heheh! Good thinking…for a girl.” Grinning, Qrow transformed his sword into its cannon form and began firing rounds into the beast’s armor. “Watch out for the other one!”

Sure enough, the other Grimm was charging at them now. Feeling more confident than ever, she shot another Ice arrow, freezing the ground in front of her. The creature howled as it stumbled on the ice and fell over on its side. Before it could recover, Summer launched several arrows directly into the giant Grimm’s now-exposed belly. With a loud growl, the beast fell over and dissolved. Beside her, Qrow swiftly decapitated the second giant with his enormous scythe.

The remaining hordes of Grimm were beginning to retreat. “We did it!” Summer whooped.

“Not yet,” Qrow grumbled. “We still gotta deal with-“He turned around, and his eyes widened. “Oh shit! Sis! Blondie!”

“Huh?” Summer turned, and sure enough, Raven and Tai were both lying on the ground, defeated. R stood above them triumphantly. _He took out Raven, too?_ Without hesitation, she fired an explosive arrow straight at the masked man’s face.

“Too slow.” R raised his hand and caught the arrow in mid-air. It was so fast Summer hadn’t even seen it. _No way._ In that split second, they’d even managed to apply just the perfect amount of pressure on the projectile to prevent it from exploding on impact. _Just…what is this guy?!_

The masked man threw the arrow back with just as much speed as if it had been fired from a bow. The explosive projectile flew straight towards Summer.

“Hey! Watch out!” Qrow yelled, jumping in front of her, his sword raised in a defensive stance. Summer braced herself for impact.

Suddenly, she felt someone’s hand grabbing her from behind. Before she could react, she felt herself flying several feet away as the arrow exploded harmlessly where she had stood seconds ago. Her rescuer released her and stood to confront R.

“Ughh…” Summer moaned as she regained her balance. Beside her, Qrow was also safe and getting back on his feet. 

“Stand back,” said Professor Goodwitch calmly. “You’ve all done quite enough.”

Relief filled Summer‘s heart. They were saved.

R assumed a strange battle stance. “Hmmm, an enemy I’ll have to fight seriously? I didn’t expect to see that today.” They began to glow with a strange power, something that felt similar to Aura, yet unmistakeably different.

Wordlessly, Glynda swung her wand, generating violet beams of Dust energy. The projectiles flew at R at top speed, surrounding them from all directions. R quickly dodged out of the way, but even with their speed they had difficulty avoiding all of them.

“Hrahh!” Extending their palm forward, they fired a ball of sinister-looking dark matter. Glynda summoned a large purple barrier using her wand, blocking the impact. Even so, the energy ball’s explosion generated an enormous wave of sound, caused cracks in the ground beneath it, and knocked Summer and Qrow off their feet.

Without so much as a pause, Glynda and R continued their duel. Energy beams and explosions flew and rang out everywhere. It was a truly epic spectacle of power, but Summer wasn’t inclined to stay and enjoy it.

“We need to go!” she yelled to her partner. “Let’s get back to our shelter!”

“Don’t need to tell me that!” Qrow muttered through clenched teeth.

The two of them ran around the ensuing chaos, picked up the unconscious Raven and Tai, and made their way back to base as fast as possible.

* * *

With her students out of the way, Glynda could fight at full strength. Using her Semblance, she lifted large chunks of rubble from the ruins with her wand.

“Hmph,” R muttered. “It looks like Ozpin has taught you well, ‘Professor’.”

Glynda did not respond. She swung her wand, and her projectiles flew at the masked man, who surrounded himself with a shield of the dark energy. The rocks bounced harmlessly off of it. Immediately afterward, the shield dispersed, and the energy manifested itself as four large black-red portals. Hundreds of energy spears came flying out of them.

“Tch!” Glynda summoned her shield once more, attempting to block all the projectiles. However, they began to take a great toll on her. She’d barely deflected the last spear when her shield shattered into pieces and dissipated. She stood there, gasping for breath.

“Are you finally out of energy?” the masked man inquired mockingly.

Glynda did not answer, but rather said: “Those techniques of yours…no school in all of Remnant could have taught you those. That, and how easily you control that forbidden energy…I’d thought you were nothing more than a low-class criminal, but it seems Ozpin was correct about you-and who you serve…”

“Hah, it’s good to see some appreciation for my hard-earned skills,” R chuckled. “Of course, if I was really trying, you’d already be dead, Professor.”

Glynda narrowed her eyes. “Why did you come to these ruins? Ozpin and I decided to personally investigate once we suspected your syndicate of acting in Pandora Village, but I still can’t understand what your purpose here was!”

R shrugged. “Please don’t make me out to be some diabolical mastermind. It’s not that complicated. Really, I’m just bait.”

“…Bait?” Glynda was confused. “But for wh….”

Suddenly, a wave of horror hit her, nearly knocking her over. “No,” she gasped. “You can’t mean…”

“And at last, realization dawns,” R laughed. “It was a hassle causing enough havoc around Remnant to have virtually all competent Huntsmen forced out of the Kingdom, but it looks like it was worth it.”

“Impossible…” Glynda whispered. “No one should have known about that…”

“Well, if you don’t believe me, why don’t you go back and see for yourself?” R asked smugly. “Provided, of course, you are not already too late.” With that, they disappeared into thin air.

Glynda was left standing there, fear and panic overwhelming her.

_Forgive me, Ozpin. We’ve made a grave mistake._

* * *

Summer and the team waited in the building anxiously. Upon returning, they’d discovered the merchant there and had quickly escorted him out of the area before heading back. Raven and Tai had woken up soon after.

“Dammit…” Tai grumbled. “Can’t believe I was taken out so easily…”

“Now you know how it feels,” Qrow sighed. “Three times and I _still_ haven’t gotten him back. So much for third time’s the charm-not that I ever believed in that crap, anyway.”

Raven was totally silent. She was staring at her katana, a strange look in her eyes.

Summer was silently pondering what had just happened. They’d found their mystery Grimm, all right-the gigantic armoured Ursas who could turn invisible. That was certainly a terrifying thought.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the masked figure could control Grimm. Summer had always been taught that reasoning with Grimm in any form was impossible. And then R had taken down Tai and even Raven with little effort. She was beginning to see just how dangerous their enemy actually was.

And then there was that sensation she’d felt as she’d prepared to shoot the giant Grimm’s paw. A strange feeling of adrenaline that was completely unlike her. It had compelled her to take that extremely risky shot, but she wasn’t sure that was a good thing. After all, what if she had missed and ended up causing the hostage’s death?

Suddenly the door burst open, interrupting her thoughts and Professor Goodwitch ran in. Her face was uncharacteristically agitated.

“We need to return to Beacon!” she yelled. “At once!”

* * *

The elevator doors opened, and the young guard walked out onto the floor of the Cross-Continental Transit Building at Beacon Tower. It was a majestic structure that towered above the entire Kingdom. It kept the network connections between the four Kingdoms online, and was also a vault were valuable items were stored.

Adjusting his cap nervously, the guard walked over to his superior, a balding old man, who was leaning against the wall, enjoying a smoke.

“Sir…?” The guard asked.

“Huh? What is it?”

“Well…” The guard pulled out a business card from his pocket. “There’s a strange man on the ground floor who wants to take withdraw something.”

“Okay....” his superior muttered. “Then why didn’t you just guide him there?”

“That’s the thing, sir. He, um…wanted access to Vault 57.”

His superior’s eyes widened. “What? Vault 57? But…that’s locked down to everyone! Who is this guy?”

The guard handed him the card. It read, _White Fang Treaty Oversight Committee-Representative._ “The guy looked really scary. I, uh, don’t think he’s going to take no for an answer.”

“Well, he’ll have to,” his superior grumbled. “No one’s allowed in there-period. Especially not some Faunus scum. Boss’ orders.”

“Err, what’s actually in it?” the guard inquired.

“I don’t know myself. None of us do. Apparently it’s been locked since this place was first built. The headmaster at the Academy, he deposited it and asked that no one ever go in.” He took another cigarette. “Or that’s how the story goes. I could go in if I wanted, but I know better than to disobey orders-especially from Ozpin himself.”

The guard raised his eyebrows. “You…have the key to Vault 57, sir?”

“Hrmm? Of course I do! The highest-ranked employees like myself have all the keys, because we can be trusted with them!” His superior glared at him. “Why do you even care?”

“No reason,” said the guard, and shot him.

The silencer on the pistol masked the gunshot. The old man fell against the wall and slowly slid to ground wordlessly, as blood trickled from the wound on his forehead.

Pulling off the cap, Simon twitched his cat ears, trying to sense if anyone was approaching. It seemed no one had heard the shot.

“Well, that was easy,” he muttered, smiling. R had really thought this whole thing through. First they’d had Buck run himself ragged around the Kingdoms, stirring up as much trouble as possible. Right now he was supposed to be holding some children hostage at the local hospital. Then, R themselves had baited Professor Goodwitch into leaving the Academy to investigate something. It was hilarious how easily she and Ozpin had fallen for it. And at this time of year, most students were out doing their assignments. All noticeable threats to the plan were out of the way.

Simon pulled out his scroll and texted Buck and R to tell them he’d infiltrated the Tower. Taking a deep breath, he took the key he needed from the old man’s corpse. Everything was set for the mission.

His target was the contents of Vault 57, a Level 10 Security Asset-a level only given to assets of monumental, international importance. A crystal containing unfathomable destructive power.

It was known as the Promethian Ore.


	15. The Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the heroes lick their wounds following their latest setback, R's group puts the final phase of their plan into operation.

**Chapter 14: The Next Step**

Being evil wasn’t as difficult-or as fun-as it seemed.

Simon checked his, map of the building breathing a sigh of disappointment. For a vault meant to store some of the most important assets in all of Remnant, hacking into their database and gathering the necessary intel had been surprisingly easy. It seemed like all that talk about the intense security of the CCT was just a bluff to scare petty thieves out of attempting to steal from it. And it worked for the most part.

But to Simon Carabas, the young mercenary thief who had stolen precious documents from the Kingdom’s parliament and instigated multiple political scandals for his clients? No security system on the continent could scare him.

Before long, he’d reached the door to the Vault. It looked the same as all the other rooms, a green door on which a keypad and microphone were mounted, and two red lights on the wall next to it. If the schematics R had provided were correct, there was a myriad of traps lying within to trap any aspiring thieves. And that was assuming they got past the lock.

Determining that there was no one nearby, Simon knelt down and began hacking into the lock. He’d taken the time to hide the body of the guard in an empty Vault, it wouldn’t be long before someone discovered they were missing.

“Two…four….one…one…zero…” he muttered, punching in the numbers on the keypad.

One of the red lights turned to green, signifying that the lock was half open.

“Remember the schematics for the traps,” Simon muttered to himself, retrieving a small mouthpiece from his pocket. He put it to his mouth. “Testing…testing.”

The voice that came out was not his. Rather, it was indistinguishable from that of Professor Ozpin. He put his mouth to the microphone and muttered one word: “Olympius.”

There was a pause, and then a computerized voice rang out: _Voice and passcode verified. Client: Professor Ozpin._ The door swung open.

If anyone else had walked in, they would have died in the first few seconds. Simon slowly walked across the room, stepping only on the “safe” tiles. One wrong moves and he’d be pumped full of bullets from one of several hidden turrets. He reached the other end of the vault where his target lay.

The Promethian Ore. The orange crystal emanated a strange, ominous beauty that was almost otherworldly. Simon couldn’t help but marvel at it for a second. Only a second, though. Making sure to disable the explosive trap underneath, he grabbed the Ore and thrust it in his pocket. _Job’s done then._

Simon, sneaking out back the way he came, locked the Vault with the stolen key and promptly strolled out of the CCT Tower, with no one any the wiser.

He had left one last surprise, though, on the roof of the tower. He smiled to himself as he imagined their reactions…

* * *

The aircraft rumbled and shook from the pressure of the surrounding wind as it flew towards its destination at full capacity. Within the craft, the tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

“The Promethian Ore is at Beacon?” Summer asked, dumbfounded. It was hard to believe that such a dangerous weapon would be located so close to home.

“So it was all a distraction,” Raven murmured. “Damn. We all fell for their little trap.”

“Ghhh….” Qrow was slumped over pathetically in his seat, trying not to throw up. “Why won’t you just kill me ‘lready…” he moaned.

“Specifically, it’s stored in a high-security vault at the CCT Tower,” Glynda said through gritted teeth. “Its location was supposed to be one of Remnant’s most well-kept secrets, and yet…”

“W-well, if it’s high security, then that means no one can get in, right?” Tai replied, trying to sound hopeful. “There’s probably, like, a hundred death cannons and lazer machine guns ready to blast any intruders, right?”

“Normally, I wouldn’t be concerned,” Glynda admitted. “Unfortunately, this may well be a special case, considering…” the professor fell silent. It looked like whatever was on her mind, she had no intention of sharing it with the four rookies.

Summer inspected her equipment. _This has all been a lot to take in._ “Do…do you think we’ll have to fight them?” she asked.

There was a pause, then Glynda sighed. “No…it looks like there won’t be a point. We’re too late.”

“Huh?” Summer looked up. A hologram was showing the scene just outside the aircraft. They had reached Vale. The CCT Tower was right in front of them. And a large, red symbol was being projected into the air from its apex.

A pig’s head with a sword running through it-the mark of the Revenants. “Oh, no…” she murmured.

No one spoke a word. It was quite clear what had happened in the tower.

The Promethian Ore, one of the most destructive artifacts in all of Remnant, had been stolen.

* * *

It was evening. Team STRQ sat silently in their dorm room. Somehow or other, Team HTHR had found their way in there with them.

Taiyang was the first to speak. “So, uh…that didn’t go well.”

“I mean, yeah, if you wanna put it _lightly,_ ” Qrow grumbled.

“Well, we had a great time!” Regal was lounging on Tai’s bed, grinning. “The Grimm were actually pretty tough, and Harriet got lost for a couple hours, but overall it was way better than I thought!”

Qrow sighed. “Good for you, pal.”

“There’s always next time, you know,” Heather chimed in. “Maybe all eight of us can go together!”

“I don’t think that’s allowed for first-years…” Harriet pointed out, scratching her tail. “I’d like it, though.”

“Actually, we were talking about, y’know, the city getting ROBBED by a crime syndicate while we were away,”Qrow snapped.

“Oh.” Harriet looked downward. “That’s, um…that’s bad, too.”

Raven, Summer and Torrence simply sat on the floor without a word. Raven in particular had plenty on her mind.

Outwardly, she looked calm as ever. Inside, though, she was seething.

Raven Branwen was not used to losing. Or failing in general. Because when she did, it shattered the “cool, wise, graceful badass” act she’d spent her whole life perfecting. She was supposed to be the best. It was what she had been taught to do-no, what she’d been _born_ to do. But how could she be the best when she’d been beaten by a lowlife criminal wearing an idiotic-looking mask?

_Calm yourself,_ she thought. _You are better than this. Think about where you go from here. Plan your next move with cunning and logic, just like you were taught._

Even with her physical loss, not everything had gone wrong for Raven today.

All this time, she’d been putting together all the clues in her head-about the syndicate, their goals, and the mysterious R.

The erratic and violent crimes.

The lack of knowledge on their members beside what little they had on their leaders.

The mysterious rat Grimm that could take control of people.

The syndicate’s apparent hatred for Faunus.

The Faunus War ten years ago.

There was something else behind it all-an enormous secret that someone was determined to keep hidden from the world. Raven understood the sentiment. She had plenty of her own secrets.

The pieces were slowly falling into place, as it were. However, it still wasn’t enough. _This is maddening,_ Raven thought angrily. _I feel like I’m so close to the answer…as if it’s right in front of me…but I’m missing something. One final link._

Suddenly a thought popped into her head. _Should I ask…? If anyone knows the answer, it would be-_

She shook her head. _No. I simply can’t. If I did, everything I’ve done over the past seven years will be put at risk. I promised myself I would never…_

But at this point, she realized she had few other options. The enemy’s plan was approaching its climax. Raven had experience with foreseeing these types of things. Whatever the risk, she had to act. _Now._

She took a deep breath. _Brother…I’m sorry._

She took out her scroll and, obscuring it from everyone’s view, wrote three words.

_I need something._

After a moment’s hesitation, she pressed the “Send” button…and her message was transmitted to the last person she’d ever ask for help.

* * *

Midnight had arrived. Three people were having a small meeting in an abandoned warehouse near the docks.

“And so phase two of the plan is complete,” R announced. Clasped in their hand was the Promethian Ore. “Well done, both of you. You performed admirably. That taunt with the symbol was certainly a nice touch, Simon.”

The cat Faunus grinned. “Well, I wanted to have some fun with the job. Breaking into a high-security vault is a lot more boring than you’d think.”

“Ah, now this was my type of operation!” Buck growled, stretching his arms out. “A shame humans break so easily. Was plenty more I coulda done with ‘em.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t go into detail.” R said flatly. “Either way, I’ve upheld my end of the bargain-I helped you obtain what you required. I presume you will now commence the final stage of the plan?”

“That’s right.” Buck stood up. “And since _I’m_ the one in charge now, I’ll take over the mission briefing.”

R shrugged. “I have no objection.”

“Good.” He activated a projector in front of him. The image of a high-tech floating stadium was displayed in front of all of them. “You all know what this is, eh?”

“The Vytal Stadium, where the Vytal Tournament is held,” R answered. “It was constructed after the Great War to serve as a symbol of peace and unity.”

“Aye, that’s what we’re told! Too bad the real story is a little less pleasant than that fairy-tale gibberish.” Buck laughed. “See, maintaining something like THAT needs, well, a lot of energy. Making it as fancy and garish as it is needs even more.”

“It’s powered with Gravity Dust,” Simon added. “A rare form of Dust energy that can twist the laws of physics themselves. That’s how it manages to levitate. The stuff’s _quite_ valuable in the black market.”

“Ah,” R nodded. “I believe I understand the situation. Something like that should have enough raw power to cut open something like the Promethian Ore. And if the Ore were to detonate at the centre of the Vytal Stadium…”

“Kaboom!” Simon made an exaggerated motion with his hands.

“We’ll show ‘em how much their ‘symbol of peace’ is REALLY worth,” Buck snarled. “And if we’re lucky, we’ll take out half the damn Kingdom down with it. When the dust has cleared…we can finally reveal ourselves to the world!”

“Mmm.” R seemed completely nonchalant. “An…ambitious goal, if nothing else.”

“Isn’t it?” Buck laughed. “Now you understand why supporting our cause was the best option, eh?”

“Though at least ask yourself this,” R continued, standing up. “When did I ever say I was ‘supporting’ you?”

“What…?” Buck stared.

“Just a suggestion,” R laughed. “Well then, you two, goodnight. I look forward to seeing the conclusion of our little game.” With that, they teleported away.

“…Tch. He sure loves getting the last word in, hmm?” Buck growled. “Well, fine. You, too, shall see my full grandeur in time.” He walked over to the drawer on the side of the warehouse.

R was likely just messing with him. But still, the masked man had always made him feel uneasy. And if they were to turn on him once they had gotten what they wanted-whatever the hell it was…

Perhaps the situation called for a little insurance policy.

Buck retrieved a small ornate bracelet from the drawer, with a beautiful, immaculately round black jewel in its centre. He inserted it onto his left arm.

_I’ll carve out a new age for this world with my own hands…and_ nothing _will stand in my way._

It was time to play his trump card.


End file.
